INCHIQUIN, 
THE  JESUIT'S  LETTERS, 

DURING    A    LATE    RESIDENCE    IN 

THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA : 

BEING 

A  FRAGMENT 

OF 

A  PRIVATE   CORRESPONDENCE. 

ACCIDENTALLY    DISCOVERED 

IN  EUROPE ; 

CONTAINING  A  FAVOURABLE  VIEW  OF  THE  MANNERS,  LITERA 
TURE,  AND  STATE  OF  SOCIETY,  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND 
A  REFUTATION  OF  MANY  OF  THE  ASPERSION  S  CAST  UPON  THTS 
COUNTRY,  BY  FORMER  RESIDENTS  AND  TOURISTS. 

BY  SOME  UNKNOWN  FOREIGNER. 


Veduti  Ubaldo,  in  giovinezza  e  cerchi 
Varj  costumi  avea,  varj  paesi, 
Percgrinaiido  dai  piu  f<  eddi  cerchi 
Del  nosiro  mondo  agli  Etiopi  accesi  : 
.B  come  uom  che  virtute  e  sen  no  merchi, 
Le  favelle,  le  usanze,  e  i  riti  appresi. 

Tasso  La  Gierusalemme  Liberata, 
Canto  decimoquarto, 


Printed  nnd  published  by  1.  Riley. 
1810. 


D1ST1UCT  Oi  NEW-YOliK,  ss. 

T3E  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  December, 
JO  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  Ame 
rica,  ISAAC  KILEY  of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in  this  office 
the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words 
following,  to  wit : 

"  Inchiquin,  the  Jesuit's  Letters,  during  a  late  residence  in  the  United 
"  States  of  America  :  being  a  fragment  of  a  private  correspondence,  acci- 
*'  dentally  discovered  in  Em*ope  ;  containing  a  favourable  view  of  the 
"  manners,  literature,  and  state  of  society,  of  the  United  States,  and  a  re- 
"  futation  of  many  of  the  aspersions  cast  upon  this  country,  by  former  re- 
"sidents  and  tourists.  By  some  unknown  foreigner. 

c  Veduti    Ubaldo,  in  giovinezza  e  cerchi 
1  Varj  costumi  avea,  varj  paesi, 
'  Peregrinando  dai  pin  freddi  cerchi 
Del  nostro  mondo  agli  Etiopi  accesi  : 
E  come  uom  che  virtute  e  senno  merchi, 
*  Le  faveile,  le  usanze,  e  i  riti  appresi. 

"  Tasso  La  Gierusalemme  Liberata, 
"  Canto  decimoquarto." 

IN  CONFORMITY  to  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  en 
titled,  "  An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies 
"  of  maps,  charts  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies, 
*'  during  the  times  therein  mentioned  ;"  and  also  to  an  act,  entitled,  "An 
"  act,  supplementary  to  an  act,  entitled,  an  act  for  the  encouragement  of 
"  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps,  charts  and  books,  to  the  authors 
"  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and 
"  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving  and 
"  etching  historical  and  other  prints." 

CHARLES  CLINTON, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  New-York. 


PREFACE. 

THE  JESUIT'S  LETTERS. 

Some  Letters,  supposed  to  have  been  written  by,  and  to,   an  Irish  Jesiti(f 
during  his  residence  in  the  United  Stales  of  America. 

THE  letters  here  published,  were  bought  at  a  bookseller's 
stall  in  the  street,  in  Antwerp,  for  the  humble  consideration 
of  a  French  crown.  They  were  tied  up  together  in  an  en 
velope,  on  which  was  written,  "  Letters  from  America." 
From  internal  evidence,  and  as  a  more  saleable  designation, 
they  have  been  denominated  "  The  Jesuit's  Letters."  They 
are  given  to  the  world  by  the  American  editor,  precisely  as 
he  has  been  assured  they  were  found  in  manuscript,  without 
any  encroachments  upon  their  disposition  or  matter.  Where 
*  *  occur,  the  words  were  carefully  marked  out  with  a  pen, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  restoration.  The  same  method  had 
been  pursued  to  conceal  the  names ;  but  with  less  success : 
for  though  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  they  are  unquestiona 
bly  reclaimed,  yet  great  pains  have  brought  them  nearly  to 
light ;  and,  it  is  believed,  those  herein  prefixed  are  almost,  if 
not  quite,  the  same  that  were  subscribed  to  the  originals. 
This,  however,  is  a  matter  of  no  great  moment,  as  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  the  names  are  fictitious,  and  therefore 
they  afford  no  clew  to  the  correspondents. 

The  purchaser  from  the  bookseller  at  Antwerp,  was  not 
an  American,  and  had  not  the  patience,  though  well  acquaint 
ed  with  the  English  language,  in  which  they  are  written, 
to  decypher  the  whole  MS. ;  but  he  explored  enough  to 
awaken  a  common  curiosity  to  know  something  of  the  authors. 
With  this  view,  he  returned  to  the  stall,  and  inquired  of 
the  bookseller,  from  whom  he  obtained  the  papers ;  but  could 
collect  nothing  more,  than  that  a  mendicant,  some  weeks  be 
fore,  offered  them  for  sale,  and  parted  with  them  readily  for 
three  livres. 

Their  existence  came  accidentally  to  the  ears  of  an  Ameri 
can,  travelling  in  Flanders,  to  whom,  on  his  expressing  a 
wish  to  have  them,  they  were  courteously  presented  by  the 
purchaser  j  and  from  whom  we  received  them  for  publica 
tion. 

346803 


iv  PREFACE. 

It  is  evident,  from  several  passages,  that  they  were  writ 
ten  by  an  Irishman,  who  must  have  resided  some  time  in 
this  country,  less  biassed  by  prejudices,  than  most  of  our 
European  visitants.  Indeed,  the  inducement  to  publish  these 
letters,  arose  not  so  much  from  any  intrinsic  merit  they  can 
boast,  as  from  the  candid  and  favourable  view  they  exhibit  of 
the  United  States. 

As  they  might  have  tended  to  dispel  some  of  the  false  me 
dium,  through  which  we  are  obscurely  seen  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  they  were  not  ori 
ginally  published  there.  But  whether  they  were  composed 
for  publication  ;  how  many  of  them  may  have  been  suppress 
ed  or  miscarried  ;  or,  indeed,  what  their  author's  object  was 
in  this  country,  are  altogether  matters  of  conjecture ;  though 
it  is  probable,  that  no  more  than  a  detachment  from  a  larger 
correspondence  has  fallen  into  our  hands. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  detail  the  reasons  which  have  led  to 
a  belief,  that  the  principal  writer,  if  not  some  of  the  others, 
must  have  been  attached  to  the  company  of  Jesuits.  Inde 
pendent  of  a  positive  declaration  to  that  amount,  in  one  of 
the  letters,  there  are  other,  though  trivial,  circumstances, 
corroborative  of  such  an  opinion.  The  modern  Charlemagne 
lias  many  motives  for  re-establishing  that  order :  and  the 
germs  of  another  Paraguay  may  be  intended  for  our  soil. 
Of  this,  however,  every  reader  will  be  enabled  to  form  his 
own  judgment;  for,  indeed,  the  very  air  of  mystery  in  which 
the  correspondence  is  shrouded,  may  itself  be  counterfeit, 
and  put  on  to  give  a^false  importance  to  things  in  themselves 
insignificant. 

As,  however,  the  letters  are  ascribed  to  a  Jesuit,  it  may 
be  proper  to  state  briefly,  that  the  order  of  Jesuits,  after  be 
ing  broken  up,  and  the  members  successively  expelled  f^om 
the  different  nations  of  Europe,  was  finally  suppressed  and 
abolished  by  Pope  Gregory  XIV.  in  1773.  In  addition 
to  the  three  vows  of  poverty,  chastity  and  monastic  ser 
vitude,  in  order  to  obtain,  in  the  first  instance,  a  confirma 
tion  of  their  mysterious  institution,  they  were  obliged  to 
assume  a  fourth,  that  of  obedience  to  the  pope;  binding* 
themselves  to  go  and  to  serve,  without  reward,  in  the  cause 


PREFACE.  \ 

of  religion,  wheresoever  he  should  command.  The  funda 
mental  maxim  of  the  society  was,  that  instead  of  being  bu 
ried  in  monkish  sloth  and  solitude,  they  should  devote 
themselves  to  more  active  beneficence.  In  return  for  abso 
lution  from  all  pious  austerities  and  mortifications,  they  de 
clared  themselves  the  champions  of  truth,  and  crusaders 
against  its  enemies.  To  promote  the  service  of  religion  in 
all  parts  of  the  globe,  the  instruction  of  youth  and  the  igno 
rant,  to  observe  the  transactions  of  the  world,  to  study  the 
characters  and  dispositions  of  persons  in  authority,  to  inform 
themselves  of  the  policy  of  governments  and  genius  of  na 
tions,  were  the  pursuits  to  which  they  dedicated  their  lives; 
pursuits,  in  themselves,  most  laudable  ;  however  they  might 
be  perverted  to  improper  purposes.  In  order  to  facilitate 
and  support  their  missions,  the  Jesuits  were  permitted  to 
trade  with  the  countries  they  visited ;  and  formerly  were 
engaged  in  extensive  and  lucrative  commerce,  both  in  the. 
East  and  West  Indies.  About  the  beginning  of  the  17th 
century,  they  made  a  settlement  on  the  river  Plate,  in  the 
province  of  Paraguay,  in  South  America,  where  their  em 
pire  was  distinguished  by  wisdom  and  tranquillity. 

For  many  years  past,  this  once  flourishing  and  influential 
association,  has  been  de  graded,  dispersed  and  diminishing. 
Their  name  has  become  a  designation  for  intrigue  and  du 
plicity  ;  and  the  few  that  remain,  have  drained  to  the  dregs 
the  chalice  of  humiliation.  If  it  has  been  contemplated  to 
revive  the  order  and  restore  its  privileges,  it  is  probable, 
that  for  the  vow  of  obedience  to  the  pope,  now  no  longer 
necessary,  another  would  be  substituted,  binding  them  to  the 
destinies  of  the  extraordinary  personage  to  whom  their  ele 
vation  would  be  owing ;  who  is  incessantly  rearing  religious, 
as  well  as  political  ramparts  round  his  throne ;  and  who, 
from  such  partisans,  might  derive,  for  himself  and  his  dynas 
ty,  the  most  essential  services. 

But  this  is  all  surmise.  And  of  its  probability,  as  well  as 
of  the  object  of  the  writer  of  these  letters,  whether  political, 
commercial,  or  ecclesiastical ;  and  whether  in  truth  the  whole 
be  not  a  fabrication,  their  readers,  we  repeat,  must  determine 
for  themselves- 


LETTER  L* 

CHARLEMONT  TO  INCHIQUIN. 

Dated  at  Paris. 

My  dear  preceptor  and  friend, 

ACCORDING  to  promise  I  send  after  you  the 
notice  of  St.  Pierre,  which  I  procured  from  M.  de 
,  too  late  to  mould  into  the  exercise  you  de 
sired,  before  your  departure  from  ***.•(•  As  it  is 
authentic,  being  in  part  communicated  by  the  philo 
sopher  himself  to  M.  de ,  and  the  rest  having 

passed  under  his  observation,  you  are  at  liberty  to 
communicate  it  to  our  friends  at  Baltimore,  or  any 
others,  who  may  be  desirous  of  learning  particulars 
concerning  so  distinguished  and  amiable  a  votary  of 
science. 

James  Henry  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre  was  born  in 
the  District  of  Caux,  in  the  Province  of  Normandy, 
of  an  ancient  and  respectable  family :  being  a  near 
relation  to  the  Abbe  St.  Pierre,  celebrated  for  his 

*  This  letter  is  a  translation  from  the  French,  in  which  the 
original  is  written E. 

f  One  word  is  erased  here. 

A 


scientific  acquirements,  and  especially  for  his  project 
of  a  perpetual  peace ;  with  which  the  good  Cardinal 
Fleury  was  so  well  pleased,  as  to  write  to  Fontenelle 
that  it  would  be  happy  for  mankind  if  princes  would 
take  a  dose  of  the  elixir  of  that  excellent  project. 
The  Author  of  the  Studies  of  Nature  resembles  his 
relation  the  Abbe  in  goodness  of  heart  and  depth  of 
knowledge,  and  surpasses  him  in  genius  and  the 
powers  of  elegant  composition.  At  an  early  age,  he 
entered  upon  the  profession  of  arms,  and  travelled 
in  Russia  and  Poland.  Upon  his  return,  he  was  sent, 
in  the  capacity  of  an  engineer,  to  the  Isle  of  France  ; 
which  useful  colony  owes  its  continued  preservation 
from  capture  by  the  English,  during  the  protracted 
maritime  war,  in  which  they  have  gained  nearly  all 
the  other  French  colonies,  in  great  measure,  to  be 
sure,  to  the  natural  ruggedness  of  its  coast,  but  in  no 
inconsiderable  degree  to  the  excellent  fortifications 
constructed  under  the  direction  of  St.  Pierre. 

On  his  return  to  France,  he  renounced  his  situa 
tion  in  the  army  as  too  restrictive  of  the  freedom  for 
study  and  contemplation  he  longed  to  enjoy.  Being 
thus  deprived  of  his  pay  as  an  officer ;  and  having 
generously  relinquished  what  patrimonial  estate  he 
had,  in  favour  of  a  sister,  his  finances  fell  to  a  very 
low  ebb,  his  prospects  were  overcast  with  gloom,  and 
the  fate  of  genius  seemed  to  threaten  to  be  his.  But 
he  neither  repined,  nor  abandoned  himself  to  despair. 
While  thus  struggling  with  want  and  uncertainty,  he 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  John  James  Rousseau, 
whom  he  resembled  in  lofty  talents,  excessive  sensi 
bility,  and  devotion  to  retirement :  though  there  was 


none  of  Rousseau's  desponding  and  unsociable  hu~ 
mour  about  his  friend  St.  Pierre. 

Owing  in  part  to  the  instances  of  M.  de ,  he 

was  prevailed  upon  to  shake  off  the  scholastic  diffi 
dence,  and  the  poverty  under  which  he  was  sinking 
into  solitude,  and  to  present  himself  to  certain  per- 
sonages  about  the  court  of  Louis  XVI.  distin 
guished  by  their  stations,  and  beneficence  to  men 
of  letters  in  indigence.  The  person,  of  all  others, 
who  has  now  the  honour  to  have  interested  herself 
in  favour  of  St.  Pierre,  was  Madame  Neckar,  wife 
of  the  great  financier ;  to  whom  he  was  indebted  for 
the  patronage  of  the  king,  and  several  eminent  cha~ 
racters  of  his  household. 

It  was  at  one  time  generally  feared,  that  St.  Pierre 
had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  revolution.  But  he  provi 
dentially  escaped  the  perils  of  that  tempest,  to  live  se 
renely  to  a  good  old  age,  blessing  and  blessed  by  his 
learning,  cheerfulness  and  benevolence. 

We  observe,  with  pleasure,  that  Professor  Barton, 
of  Philadelphia,  whom,  through  his  scientific  re 
searches,  we  know  as  one  of  the  only  men  of  letters 
in  America,  has  given  his  countrymen  an  edition  of 
the  Studies  of  Nature.  But  it  is  to  be  regretted,  that 
he  has  not  introduced  his  work  with  any  biographi 
cal  sketch  of  the  author  ;  because,  independent  of  the 
desire  of  most  readers  to  know  something  of  the  life 
of  the  writer  they  admire,  the  qualities  of  St.  Pierre's 
mind  are  so  strongly  reflected  in  his  works,  that  all 
persons  must  read  them  with  greater  pleasure  and 
instruction,  from  knowing  that  they  faithfully  repre- 


4 

bent  the  virtues  and  simplicity  of  the  author's  cha 
racter. 

It  is  probable  the  world  would  have  been  gratified 
with  many  other  of  St.  Pierre's  productions,  had  he 
not,  at  rather  a  late  day,  sacrificed  his  additional 
fame  to  marriage,  and  the  tame  enticements  of  do 
mestic  life.  This  sin  against  science  he  attempted 
to  extenuate  to  his  friends,  by  the  proverb  "  Better 
late  than  never ;"  to  which  with  much  greater  pro 
priety  they  might  have  replied,  "  Better  never  than 
late.'*  Or  early  either,  say  I.  For  what  has  a  being 
dedicated  to  academic  shades,  and  attenuated  with 
study,  to  do  with  the  everlasting  distractions  of  a  fa 
mily  ?  There  are  no  more  insurmountable  barriers 
to  literary  attainments,  than  chubby  children  and  a 
charming  wife.  Literary  men  are  but  indifferent 
propagators  of  any  other  species  than  letters ;  and 
Madame  Dacier  herself  would  be  no  better  than  a 
hindrance  in  the  pursuit  of  learning.  The  emperor 
showed  his  usual  good  sense  in  permitting  the  mar 
riage  of  priests ;  because  it  not  only  renders  their 
lives  both  happier  and  more  exemplary,  but  serves 
also  to  replenish  population.  But  as  the  interest  of 
letters  is  one  of  the  nearest  his  imperial  heart,  would 
lie  not,  in  return  for  this  dispensation  to  the  priest 
hood,  have  done  well  by  enjoining  celibacy  on  all 
academicians  and  philosophers  ? 

#  #  *  * 

The  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  is  called  the  Augustan 
age  of  France.  Yet  all  the  pensions  given  by  that 
monarch  to  men  of  letters,  amounted  to  no  more  than 

*  Line  crossed  out 


66,300  livres ;  52,300  to  Frenchmen,  and  14,000  to 
foreigners.  Whereas  since  his  present  majesty  has 
shone  from  the  throne  of  France,  I  suppose  sixty 
thousand  times  that  amount  has  been  appropriated  to 
the  same  noble  purpose. 

*  *  *  * 

Apropos  of  the  sex.     Pray  do  not  fail  to  give  us 
details  of  their  appearance,  manners,  and  education 
(if  they  have  any)   in   America.     Even  the  faces, 
figures,  and  costume  of  the  American  females,  if  not 
unworthy  your  pen,  would  be  agreeable  to  our  peru 
sal.    I  presume  they  are  infinitely  mixed.   What  with 
the  original  English  leaven,  the  aboriginal  Indian,  the 
Mulatto,  the  Creole,  African,  and  other  crosses,  they 
must  be  a  most  curiously  heterogeneous  and  streaked 
kind.  From  all  these  mixtures  there  can  be  no  predo 
minant  complexion :  few  fair,  and  none  ruddy.  A  tor 
rid  sun  has  gilded  them  with  his  cadaverous  hues, 
driving  the  rose  from  their  cheeks,  with  the  verdure 
from  their  fields.     I  have  always   understood  they 
marry  early,  breed  fast,  fade  soon,  and  die  young.    Do 
the  sexes  meet  freely  at  places  of  public  resort  ?  Was 
there  ever  such  a  thing  as  an  intrigue  in  the  United 
States  of  America  ?  I  think  I  should  enjoy  an  amour 
with  a  squaw,  string  her  bow,  feather  her  arrows,  run 
races  with  her,  pick  up  her  tomahawk,  sharpen  her 
scalping  knife,  play  with  her  long  nose-bobs,  and  sing 
guttural  ditties  with  her.  As  to  society  I  suppose  it  is 
not  of  this  present  age  in  America.     Even  in  En 
gland,  by  all  accounts,  they  live  a  melancholy  sort  of 
routine,  walking  and  riding  of  a  morning,  drinking 
and  picking  their  teeth  of  afternoons,  putting  each 

*  Line  crossed  out. 


other  to  route  at  night,  lounging  at  watering-places, 
and  blowing  their  brains  out  at  the  regular  seasons. 
It  is  hardly  therefore  to  be  presumed,  that  the  infe 
rior  species  of  English,  who  compose  the  gentry  of 
the  United  States,  are  gayer,  more  polished,  or  less 
suicidical,  than  their  progenitors  of  the  mother 
country. 

The  reigning  president,  unless  fume  belies  him,  is 
much  addicted  to  gallantry,  and  not  very  fastidious 
in  his  loves.  One  of  the  vice-presidents  was  also, 
it  is  said,  of  similar  propensities,  and  as  indiscrimi 
nate  in  their  indulgence.  From  such  striking  in 
stances,  is  not  a  very  general  depravity  inferrible  ? 
What  an  extraordinary  race  the  medley  of  colours 
will  produce  in  the  course  of  a  century  !  If  polygamy 
were  permitted,  (and  I  wonder  that  in  so  free  a  coun 
try  there  should  be  any  restraints,)  a  father  of  a  fa 
mily,  happening  to  live  to  a  green  old  age,  might  as 
semble  children  of  all  colours  round  his  own  table. 

Of  the  men  of  America,  the  less  you  write  the 
better.  I  shall  have  no  objection  to  receive  reports 
of  that  sex,  whose  peculiarities  must  constitute  your 
chief  and  perhaps  only  entertainment.  But  of  their 
ignorant  and  sordid  masters,  absorbed  in  trade  and 
republicanism,  who  seem  to  know  and  desire  no  dis 
tinctions,  but  such  as  are  to  be  earned  with  the  sweat 
of  their  brows,  I  desire  to  hear  as  little  as  possible. 
For  I  never  could  subscribe  to  a  sentiment  of  your 
favourite  Dry  den,  that 

Prodigious  actions  may  as  well  be  done 
By  weaver's  issue,  as  by  prince's  son. 

1 


Whatever  statistical  details  you  may  think  proper  to 
communicate,  and  whatever  natural  anomalies,  I  con 
sent  to  brood  over,  for  the  benefit  of  human  nature 
and  zoology.  But  spare  me,  I  beseech  you,  spare 
me,  my  worthy  instructor,  long  stones  of  republi 
can  bipeds  and  commercial  usages. 

*  •*  #  *  # 

I  have  been  in  Paris  ever  since  you  left  us,  without 
one  summons  to  Liege  ;  and  I  do  not  think  I  should 
depart  without  at  least  three.  Porriget  hora.  During 
part  of  the  time,  the  emperor  was  gone  to  the  wars ; 
and  we  endeavoured  to  amuse  ourselves  as  well  as  we 
Gould  in  his  good  city,  during  his  august  absence. 
Since  his  return,  there  has  been  nothing  but  rejoicing 
and  festivity.  Half  a  dozen  crowned  heads  are  now 
within  our  walls,  each  one  holding  a  separate  and 
splendid  court,  so  as  to  render  it  ample  employment 
for  any  one  day,  to  pay  our  respects  to  all  their  ma 
jesties.  The  garden  of  the  Thuilleries,  and  wood 
of  Boulogne,  are  thronged  with  beauty,  elegance, 
and  fashion.  Frescati,  the  opera,  and  all  the  thea 
tres,  overflow  every  night.  Masquerade  s,  public- 
parades,  and  every  imaginable  refinement  of  specta 
cle  and  amusement,  are  kept  up  in  a  perpetual  round. 
But  his  I.  and  R.  M.  leaves  us  soon,  it  is  said,  for 
•another  campaign;  when,  of  course,  much  of  this 
splendour  will  subside.  Is  it  not  a  singular  fact, 
that  Charlemagne,  Charles  V.  of  Spain,  and  Napo 
leon,  resemble  each  other,  in  being  always  on  the 
M  ing,  for  a  journey  or  a  war  ?  *  *  '  * 


B 


I  am  interrupted — Good  God  .  .  .  have  only 
time  to  add  farewell ;  a  long,  perhaps  an  eternal  fare 
well  .  .  .  my  beloved  friend  and  guide  .  *  . 
What  I  have  written  is  ...  Think  not  ^: .-. 
I  beseech  you  .  .  . 


LETTER  II. 

PHARAMOND  TO  INCHIQUIN, 

Dated  at  Liege. 
[The  preceding  letter  was  enclosed  in  this — E.Q 

POOR  Charlemont! — The  enclosed  letter  was 
forwarded  to  me  open,  from  the  prefecture  of  *  *  *, 
with  some  strictures  *  *  *  *  * 

#  #  *  #  * 

I  have  also  received,  by  a  private  hand,  a  commu- 
nicarion  on  the  subject  from  O.,  with  all  the  particu 
lars.  It  seems,  that  on  intelligence  of  an  apprehend 
ed  descent  near  Cherbourg,  he  was  forced  to  volun 
teer  to  the  conscription,  without  even  drawing  lots. 
The  day  after  his  attachment  to  a  company,  he  was 
permitted  to  go  to  his  lodgings,  under  a  Serjeant's 
guard,  and  in  his  regimentals,  to  secure  his  little  ef 
fects  ;  by  which  he  had  an  opportunity  to  bid  adieu  to 
O.  and  the  rest.  The  tear  glistened  in  his  eye,  and 
farewell  faltered  on  his  tongue.  But  the  drum  sum 
moned  him  away  ;  and,  inspired  with  the  sound,  after 
desiring  his  unalterable  affection  to  be  presented  to 
you  and  me,  he  flew  to  his  comrades  at  the  gate, 
and  marched  away  with  them  to  his  quarters. 


10 

The  feelings  with  which  this  amiable  youth  ap 
pears  to  have  been  overcome  at  the  moment  of  his 
arrest,  and  indeed  I  will  confess  the  dismay  with 
which  I  first  heard  of  his  being  torn  from  us,  led  me 
into  a  train  of  reflection  on  that  prodigious  engine  of 
state,  the  military  conscription,  which,  I  am  happy 
to  say,  has  terminated  in  the  removal  of  all  my  un 
easiness,  and  my  entire  reconcilement  to  that  most 
useful  and  indispensable  measure  of  state  necessity. 
Mankind  are  prone  to  immediate  impressions,  with 
out  lifting  up  their  contemplation  to  results ;  and  they 
suffer  momentary  actual  privations  to  counterpoise 
distant  permanent  advantages.  But  what  can  be  more 
contradictory  to  the  first  principles  of  a  body  politic, 
than  that  one  of  its  members,  a  muscle  or  a  fibre, 
should  refuse  its  office  in  any  way  the  whole  body 
may  command  it?  The  conscription  is  unpopu 
lar,  because  the  operations  of  superior  upon  inferior 
minds  are  always  incomprehensible  and  ill  received. 
But  it  is  not  a  measure  of  to-day  ;  nor  is  it  an  offspring 
of  the  revolution,  fertile  as  that  crisis  was  in  hardy  and 
powerful  creations.  "  I  have  seen,  in  my  youth," 
says  one  of  the  most  unimpeachable  of  French  his 
torical  writers,*  these  forced  recruits  led  oft'  in  chains 
like  malefactors."  It  is  nothing  more  than  the  im 
pressment  of  the  English,  without  which  their  ablest 
statesman  openly  declared,  in  parliament,  that  it  was 

*  J*ai  vu  dans  mons  enfance  ccs  recrues  forcees  conduites 
a  lachaine  commes  des  malfaiteurs. — Duclos,  Mem.  Sec.  vol. 
1.  p.  9. 


11 

impossible  to  equip  a  fleet  in  time.*  It  is  the  militia 
of  the  Roman  repiublic,  the  military  system  of  all 
great  nations,  advanced  to  a  degree  of  incredible  per 
fection,  by  the  mighty  master,  who  now,  from  the 
throne  of  the  Bourbons,  wields  the  sceptre  of  Eu 
rope.  If  you  can  procure  a  copy  of  Polybius  in 
America,  I  beg  you  to  read  the  fragment  of  the  se 
venth  book,  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us : 
where  you  will  see  that  the  Roman  plan  was  severer 
and  less  certain  than  the  French.  Every  citizen,  be 
fore  he  attained  to  forty-six  years  of  age,  was  com 
pelled  to  serve  ten  years  in  the  cavalry,  or  sixteen  on 
foot.  In  times  of  danger,  and  we  know  how  often 
the  temple  of  Janus  was  shut,  the  period  of  service 
was  protracted  to  twenty  years.  No  citizen  could 
aspire  to  the  civil  magistracy  till  he  had  served  ten 
campaigns.  Once  a  year  the  whole  country  was  as 
sembled  for  consular  inspection.  No  excuses  were 
accepted  for  non-attendance.  No  pretext  of  acci 
dent  or  illness ;  nothing  less  than  absolute,  unques 
tionable  impracticability,  was  listened  to.  Every  in 
dividual  was  sworn ;  and  when  the  selections  were 
made,  a  most  rigid  discipline  went  into  immediate 
operation.  The  severest  corporal  punishments,  bas 
tinado  and  decimation,  were  inflicted  for  offences. 
No  hospital  for  invalids,  no  half  pay,  no  pensions 

*  I  am  myself  clearly  convinced,  and  I  believe  every  man 
who  knows  any  thing  of  the  English  navy  will  acknowledge, 
that  without  impressing,  it  is  impossible  to  equip  a  respecta 
ble  fleet  within  the  time  in  which  armaments  are  usually 
wanted.— Lord  Chatham's  Sfiecr/t  ow  ffir  Relations  with  Sfiain, 
I'l  November*  1770. 


12 

awaited  the  wounded  and  worn  out ;  but  barren  ho 
nours,  short-lived  ovations,  and  allotments  of  lands 
in  foreign  conquests.  Should  then  the  French  com 
plain  of  their  service  ?  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  con 
scription  so  rigorous,  so  lasting,  so  ungrateful  ? 

But  if  by  comparison  with  the  similar  regulations 
of  ancient  and  of  modern  powers,  we  see  reasons  for 
admiring  the  conscription,  what  must  be  our  senti 
ments  of  admiration  and  gratitude,  when  we  behold 
Its  effects  !  If  your  countryman,  the  boding  Burke, 
could  see  in  France,  before  the  revolution,  so  much 
to  awe  and  command  his  transcendant  imagination,* 

*  Indeed  when  I  consider  the  face  of  the  kingdom  of 
France  ;  the  multitude  and  opulence  of  her  cities ;  the  useful 
magnificence  of  her  spacious  high  roads  and  bridges;  the 
opportunity  of  her  artificial  canals  and  navigations  opening 
the  conveniences  of  maritime  communication  through  a 
solid  continent  of  so  immense  an  extent ;  when  I  turn  my 
eyes  to  the  stupendous  works  of  her  ports  and  harbours,  and 
to  her  whole  naval  apparatus,  whether  for  war  or  trade  ;  when 
I  bring  before  my  view  the  number  of  her  fortifications,  con 
structed  with  so  bold  and  masterly  a  skill,  and  made  and 
maintained  at  so  prodigious  a  charge,  presenting  an  armed 
front  and  impenetrable  barrier  to  her  enemies  on  every  side  ; 
when  I  recollect  how  very  small  a  part  of  that  extensive  re 
gion  is  without  cultivation,  and  to  what  complete  perfection 
the  culture  of  many  of  the  best  productions  of  the  earth  have 
been  brought  in  France ;  when  I  reflect  on  the  excellence  of 
her  manufactures  and  fabrics,  second  to  none  but  ours,  and  in 
some  particulars  not  second ;  when  I  contemplate  the  grand 
foundations  of  charity,  public  and  private  ;  when  I  survey  the 
state  of  all  the  arts  that  beautify  and  polish  life ;  when  I 
i-eckon  the  men  she  has  bred  for  extending  her  fame  in  war, 
her  able  statesmen,  the  multitude  of  her  profound  lawyers 
and  theologians,  her  philosophers,  her  critics,  her  historians 


13 

what  would  have  been  his  reflections,  had  he  lived  to 
see  those  harvests  from  the  ashes  of  desolation  he 
foresaw — those  astonishing  internal  improvements 
and  blessings,  which,  no  less  than  his  unparalleled 
victories,  are  the  glories  of  that  incomparable  being, 
to  whose  guidance  the  destinies  of  the  French  em 
pire  have  since  been  committed  by  an  omniscient 
Providence — under  whose  rapid  genius  the  conscrip 
tion  works  like  the  elements  at  the  nod  of  cloud- 
compelling  Jove — and  the  lightning  of  his  counsel  has 
executed  its  commission,  ere  the  thunder  of  his  com 
mand  can  report  its  progress. 

Who  are  those  Frenchmen  that  hope  to  resuscitate 
the  decayed  and  withered  trunk  of  the  house  of  Bour 
bon  whose  few  remaining  branches  are  now  scattered 
before  the  winds  ?  Units  among  the  millions  that  have 
consigned  that  worn  out  stock  to  obscurity,  whose: 
reliance  is  in  the  aid  of  the  deadly,  prescriptive,  in 
veterate  foes,  both  of  the  Bourbons  and  of  France — 
the  English  nation.  What  are  the  motives  of  En 
glish  hostility  to  the  new  French  dynasty?  Their  in 
stinctive  hatred  of  France,  sharpened  by  the  dire 
spirit  of  impotent  revenge,  mixed  up  with  the  gall  oi 
defeat  and  disaster.  Do  they  pretend  to  be  fighting 
the  battles  of  the  house  of  Bourbon?  They,  who 
have  grown  up  in  hatred  and  abhorrence  against  that 
family ;  they,  who  since  their  own  Harry  V.  over 
ran  the  north  of  France,  since  their  own  Charles  II. 

and  antiquaries,  her  poets  and  her  orators,  sacred  and  pro 
fane,  I  behold  in  all  this  something  which  awes  and  com 
mands  the  imagination,  &c. — Burke9  s  Reflections  on  the  Re 
volution  in  France^  p.  177. 


14 

was  the  stipendiary,  and  their  own  William  III.  the 
}>ersonal  antagonist  of  Louis  XIV.  have  waged  one 
continued  current  of  hostilities,  sometimes  breaking 
out  in  solemn  war,  and  at  others  no  less  active  in  di 
plomatic  stratagem,  against  the  well  being,  the  very 
existence  of  the  French  nation.  Let  us  not  be  de 
ceived  by  a  subjugation  of  natural  hate  and  a  pre 
tence  of  alliance,  so  monstrous,  unreal,  and  unna 
tural.  It  is  not  now  eight  years  since  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  liberal  of  English  statesmen,  distin 
guished  among  his  country  ijien  for  his  want  of  British 
antipathy  toward  the  French,  delivered,  in  the  face  of 
the  nation,  a  celebrated  speech,  in  which  this  passage 
occurs :  "  As  an  Englishman,  and  actuated  by  En 
glish  feelings,  I  surely  cannot  wish  for  the  restoration 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon  to  the  throne  of  France.  I 
hope  that  I  am  not  a  man  to  bear  heavily  on  any  un 
fortunate  family.  I  feel  for  their  situation  ;  I  respect 
their  distresses  :  but  as  a  friend  of  England,  I  cannot 
wish  for  their  restoration  to  the  power  which  they 
abused.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  French, 
when  once  engaged  in  foreign  wars,  should  not  en 
deavour  to  spread  ^destruction  around  them,  and  to 
form  plans  of  aggrandizement  and  plunder  on  every 
.side.  Men  bred  in  the  school  of  the  house  of  Bour 
bon  could  not  be  expected  to  act  otherwise.  They 
could  not  have  lived  so  long  under  their  ancient  mas 
ters,  without  imbibing  the  restless  ambition,  the  per 
fidy,  and  the  insatiable  spirit  of  that  race.  They 
have  imitated  the  practice  of  their  great  prototype ; 
and  through  their  whole  career  of  mischief  and 

crimes,  have  done  no  more  than  servilely  trace  the 

1 


15 

steps  of  their  own  Louis  XIV.  If  they  have  over 
run  countries  and  ravaged  them,  they  have  done  it 
upon  Bourbon  principles ;  if  they  have  ruined  and 
dethroned  sovereigns,  it  is  entirely  after  the  Bour 
bon  manner  ;  if  they  have  even  fraternized  with  the 
people  of  foreign  countries,  and  pretended  to  make 
their  cause  their  own,  they  have  only  faithfully  follow 
ed  the  Bourbon  example.  The  whole  history  of  the 
last  century  is  little  more  than  an  account  of  the- 
wars,  and  the  calamities  arising  from  the  restless  am 
bition,  the  intrigues,  and  the  perfidy  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon."* 

This  is  the  testimony  of  an  honest  enemy,  of  a 
great  English  statesman,  who  has  since  been  prime 
minister  of  Great  Britain,  and  who  is  now  no  more. 

Let  us  not,  therefore,  deceive  ourselves,  nor  mis 
take  the  day,  or  the  instrument  of  retribution.  Let 
not  our  reverence  for  the  pageants,  before  which  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  bow  the  knee,  be  startled  at 
the  amazing  fact  in  the  history  of  our  times,  that  the 
hereditary  crowns  of  Europe  are  filled  with  foolish 
heads,  and  that  the  only  one  on  which  wisdom  and 
valour,  the  legitimate  attributes  of  royalty,  now  shed 
their  influence,  was  raised  from  the  dust  on  the  point 
of  a  triumphant  sabre.  Let  all  Frenchmen  remem 
ber  the  treaty  of  Pilnitz,  and  let  not  their  enemies 
repine  under  the  reaction  of  that  accursed  league. 

When   from .  embarrassment  and  bankruptcy  we 

»  Mr.  Fox.  Speech  delivered  3d  February,  1800,  on  a  mo 
tion  for  an  address  to  the  throne,  approving  of  the  answers 
returned  to  the  communications  from  France,  relative  to  ?. 
negotiation  for  pracc. 


16 

perceive  the  finances  of  France  restored  to  compe 
tency  and  system,  and  an  annual  disbursement  of  a 
million  millions  provided  for  without  extraordinary 
imposts  ;  when  we  consider  that  poor,  and  poor  rates 
are  pressures  no  longer  existing ;  that  much  more 
land  is  cultivated,  and  divided  among  smaller  pro 
prietors,  than  before  the  year  1789 ;  that  corn  and 
wine,  and  all  the  great  staples  of  subsistence,  are 
abundant  and  cheap ;  that  the  interest  of  money  is 
reduced  by  the  influx  attendant  on  security  from  10 
and  12  to  3  and  4  per  cent.;  when  we  behold  public 
credit  in  full  vigour  and  reputation  ;  national  schools 
organized  in  every  department ;  obsolete  laws  reject 
ed  or  modified,  and  modern  provisions  ingrafted  into 
one  great  and  comprehensive  code  ;  learning  munifi 
cently  endowed ;  the  sciences  fostered  and  flourish 
ing  ;  every  station  filled  with  appropriate  and  com 
manding  talents ;  when  we  survey  the  fertile  fields 
where  marshes  were  drained  and  mountains  levelled ; 
highways  and  canals,  at  the  public  charge,  without 
individual  exaction,  connecting  distant  provinces ; 
when  we  contemplate  the  modern  metropolis  of  the 
world,  adorned  with  the  master  works  of  all  ages,  and 
resplendent  with  the  most  elegant  and  enlightened 
society  of  the  present ;  and  when  we  reflect  that 
all  this  is  the  performance  of  a  few  years  and  of 
one  man,  can  we  withhold  our  homage  from  that 
man,  deny  his  right  to  a  throne,  or  rebel  against  the 
instrument  with  which  he  raised  this  scene!  From 
the  obscurity  and  prostration  of  a  political  chaos, 
under  the  auspices  of  Napoleon  and  the  conscrip 
tion,  the  French  nation,  realizing  as  it  were  in  an 
instant  of  time,  the  visions  of  ae;cs,  has  become  an 


17 

immense  empire,  tranquil  within,  terrible  abroad; 
new  kingdoms  have  risen  into  being ;  Christianity  re- 
turns  to  her  pillaged  sanctuaries  ;  and  even  Jerusalem 
raises  her  bowed  head  from  the  earth ;  the  hardy 
sciences,  chemistry,  mineralogy,  mathematics  and 
astronomy,  shoot  up  from  a  soil  moistened  with 
blood  and  manured  with  bones,  to  spread  their  golden 
fruitage  over  desolate  regions ;  while  poetry,  paint- 
ing,  sculpture  and  music,  wanton  under  their  shade, 
and  encourage  their  expansion. 


Next  to  these  primary  objects,  while  you  remai"' 
on  those  shores,  where  pestilence  and  trade  contend 
the  fate  of  a  new  empire,  endeavour  to  penetrate,  if 
possible,  the  spirit  and  policy  of  that  unaccountable 
union  of  disjointed  sovereignties,  which  seems  so  often 
to  hang  on  the  brink  of  a  rupture,  and  yet  continues 
integral.     I  never  could  be  satisfied  with  your  views 
of  that  country,  which  perhaps  may  change  on  this 
visit.     The  spirit  of  foreign  traffic,  which   lighted 
the  flames  of  the  last  wars  in  Europe,  and  has  for 
sixteen  years  fed  them  with  fresh  fuel,  predominates 
to  a  fatal  degree  in  the  United  States  of  America. 
This  appanage  of  their  mother  country,  this  huck 
ster's  heritance,  will  be  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing  to 
them.     With  the  vast  concatenation  of  lakes  and  ri 
vers,  which  bounds,  connects,  fertilizes,  and  forti 
fies  their  western  frontier,  why  should  they  tempt  the 
troubled  waters  of  the  Atlantic  ? 
At  the  close  of  their  revolution,  they  were  a  prudent 

*  Nearly  half  a  page  is  erased  here, 
c 


18 

and  a  warlike — a  characterized  people.  But  have  they 
not  become  ignoble  and  rapacious,  tame  to  foreign 
insult  and  spoliation,  and  intractable  to  legitimate 
authority  ?  As  commerce  is  their  national  bond  of 
union,  is  not  knavery  their  predominant  national 
characteristic  ?  That  trade,  which  seems  to  be  their 
sole  pursuit,  unless  disciplined,  within  due  bounds, 
will  lead  from  base  submission  to  bloody  hostilities 
and  inevitable  destruction. 

It  has  long  been  a  favourite  opinion  with  several 
distinguished  men  here,  and  particularly  with  Cardi 
nal  Maury,  that  it  would  not  be  impossible  to  substi 
tute  the  Catholic  religion  for  the  deplorable  deluge 
of  creeds  that  has  flowed  upon  them  with  what  they 
call  toleration ;  and  the  French  language  for  the 
German,  Irish,  English,  and  other  dialects  that  pre 
vail.  French  is  now  the  most  general  language  of 
the  civilized  nations  of  the  world.  The  English  co 
lonies  are  the  only  parts  of  the  globe,  in  which  it  is 
probable  the  English  tongue  will  be  preserved :  and 
as  it  would  contribute  greatly  to  the  facilities  of  inter 
national  intercourse,  that  at  least  the  civilized  por 
tions  of  the  earth  should  speak  the  same  language,  I 
cannot  consider  it  an  unreasonable  requisition  of  the 
Americans  to  adopt  French  as  their  vernacular.  DG 
you  believe  the  opposition  to  this  change  would  be  in 
surmountable  ?  Their  neighbours  of  Canada  and 
Louisiana  have  already  this  advantage,  which  the  in 
habitants  of  the  states  might  easily  acquire.  I  wish 
ed  to  have  conversed  with  you  on  this  subject,  and 
some  others  of  a  similar  kind ;  but  my  indisposition 
and  your  short  stay  in  Liege,  deprived  me  of  the 
opportunity. 


19 

Not  only  the  language  and  the  church,  but  the 
state  and  population  being  composed  of  such  hetero 
geneous  and  militant  materials,  it  is  absurd  to  sup 
pose  the  continuation,  for  any  considerable  period,  of 
such  a  nation,  especially  when  feebly  held  together 
by  a  nerveless  government.  "  Nothing,"  wrote  Aris 
totle  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  all  subsequent  expe 
rience  has  made  an  axiom  of  what  was  at  first  but  an 
opinion — "  Nothing  is  more  unfriendly  to  public 
tranquillity  than  dissimilitude  of  character  in  the  ci 
tizens.  A  heterogeneous  assemblage  of  mixed 
tribes  cannot  speedily  coalesce  into  a  nation ;  and 
communities  which  have  grown  populous  by  sudden 
accessions  are  commonly  torn  by  sedition."  This, 
when  applied  to  the  American  states,  is  prophecy  ? 
in  the  full  train  of  verification. 

The  destructive  fevers  too,  that  prevail,  are  no  less 
fatal  than  faction.  I  have  always  thought  with  the 
Abbe  Raynal,  that  the  population  will  never  exceed 
ten  millions.  But  of  all  these  things,  and  many 
others,  you  will  give  us  the  results  of  your  imme 
diate  observation ;  and,  as  you  know,  for  the  best 
possible  reason,  I  most  anxiously  desire  you  may  find 
cause  to  assure  us  of  our  error.  But  remember 
what  reliance  rests  on  your  assurances,  and  be  cau 
tious  accordingly.  Almost  as  you  advise  we  will 
act.  And  I  trust  you  duly  appreciate  the  import 
ance  of  your  recommendation,  and  the  momentous 
consequences  to  which  it  may  lead. 

Adieu.  You  are  never  forgotten  in  our  prayers. 
Write  daily,  and  write  at  large.  Nevermind  oppor 
tunities.  If  a  package  comes  together,  so  much  the 


20 

better.  This  letter  should  have  been  longer  and  bet 
ter  connected,  if  I  held  a  pen  with  less  difficulty. 
Your  best  friends  are  all  well,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on 
you.  May  God  preserve  and  prosper  you.  Cras 
ingens  iterabimus. 


LETTER  III. 

CLANRICKARD  TO  INCHIQUIN. 

Dated  at  London. 

Dear  Brother, 

WE  received  a  few  days  ago,  by  an  accidental 
conveyance  through  Holland,  your  letter  from  Liege, 
announcing  your  intended  departure  for  America, 
whither  I  now  address  myself,  as  I  take  it  for  granted 
you  must  have  arrived  before  this  time.  Your  sister 
received  the  intelligence  with  considerable  uneasi^ 
ness,  as  you  know  she  always  had  a  dread  of  the  cli 
mate  in  that  unwholesome  country.  I  regretted  it 
for  that,  and  for  other  reasons,  which  I  will  take  this 
occasion  to  impart  in  the  most  unreserved  manner ; 
as  I  am  sure ,  however  we  may  differ  in  opinion,  we 
can  exchange  sentiments  without  offence.  It  was 
your  misfortune,  at  least  I  think  so,  to  have  been 
brought  up  at  St.  Omer's,  where  you  imbibed  pre 
possessions  uncongenial  with  the  habits  and  course  of 
life,  to  which  from  your  birth  and  fortune  you  were 
destined.  You  will  do  me  the  justice  to  admit  that  I 
never  did  approve  of  your  attachment  to  the  Jesuits, 
and  to  a  single  life.  Pardon  my  frankness  ;  but  it  is 


22 

time  I  should  be  explicit.  Had  you  never  left  Ire 
land  until  your  ideas  received  a  permanent  cast, 
I  am  now  fully  persuaded  that  we  should  both  have 
avoided  those  rocks,  on  which  your  fortunes  were 
dashed  to  pieces,  and  from  which  mine  had  so  nar 
row  an  escape.  Be  that  however  as  it  may,  the 
question  at  present  is  not  to  remedy  the  past,  but 
from  its  lessons  to  learn  to  provide  for  the  future.  It 
has  always  been  matter  of  poignant  regret  with  your 
family,  that,  whatever  were  your  persecutions,  you 
should  seek  refuge  among  the  natural,  and  at  this 
time  the  declared  and  cruel  enemies  of  your  coun 
try  ;  among  a  people  soiled  with  every  crime  as  a 
nation,  and  of  the  utmost  depravity  as  individuals. 
Mr.  Burke's  prophecies  have  been  so  dreadfully  re 
alized,  and  at  the  same  time  it  has  pleased  an  allwise 
Providence  to  vouchsafe  such  incredible  success  to 
their  inhuman  designs,  that  it  truly  may  be  said  that 
sacrilege,  massacre  and  perfidy,  pile  up  "  the  sombre 
pyramids  of  their  renown."  All  the  iniquities  in 
history  are  transcended  by  the  vices  and  degradation 
of  the  modern  French ;  not  in  their  revolutionary 
excesses,  which  were  popular  ebullitions,  capable, 
perhaps,  of  some  extenuation,  and  of  which  I  own 
that  in  common  with  many  others,  who  are  now 
smarting  under  their  effects,  I  caught  the  sanguinary 
contagion.  But  their  disregard  of  every  religious 
and  moral  obligation,  their  abject  submission  to  the 
most  remorseless  despot,  at  whose  footstool  an  en 
slaved  people  ever  crouched,  above  all,  their  insidious 
and  barbarian  persecution  of  Great  Britain,  a  mag 
nanimous  and  invulnerable  foe,  must  render  their 


.23 

character  so  hateful  in  the  eyes  of  all  civilized  man 
kind,  that  I  hold  it  one  of  a  Briton's  most  sacred  du 
ties  to  loathe  a  Frenchman  ;  and  I  cannot  reflect  with 
out  shame  and  horror,  that  any  person  so  near  and 
dear  to  me  as  you  are,  by  the  ties  of  blood,  con 
nection  and  friendship,  should  be  a  willing  partici 
pator  of  their  dangers  and  depravity.  This  is  strong 
language ;  but  you  must  bear  with  me.  What  se 
curity  have  you,  my  dear  Inchiquin,  that  the  mon 
sters,  who  compose  the  police,  may  not  at  any  mo 
ment  tear  you  from  your  bed,  and  plunge  you  in  a 
dungeon,  or  transport  you  to  some  remote  and  de 
structive  latitude  ?  Depend  upon  it,  a  foreigner  must 
always  be  a  mark  of  suspicion.  I  cannot  at  this  dis 
tance  think,  without  an  involuntary  shudder,  of  the 
Temple,  the  Wood  of  Vincennes,  and  the  many  other 
places  appropriated  to  human  immolation ,  How  can 
you  be  certain  that  the  next  conscription,  breaking 
through  any  immunities  in  which  you  may  imagine 
yourself  entrenched,  may  not  drag  you  in  chains 
like  a  malefactor  to  the  frontier,  and  expose  you  to 
an  ignominious  death  ?  for  such  it  certainly  would 
be  to  fall  in  the  cause  of  France.  These  are  por 
tentous,  and  you  may  think  idle  bodings.  But  I 
urge  them  with  the  more  zeal,  because,  while  you 
resided  on  the  continent,  I  feared  to  expose  you  by 
venturing  an  appeal,  which,  if  discovered,  (and  the 
French  post-offices  have  no  regard  for  the  sanctity  of 
a  private  correspondence)  might  have  not  only  de 
feated  its  own  purpose,  but  betrayed  you  at  once 
into  the  power  of  the  police.  Does  not  your  late  act 
indeed  attest  the  probability  of  the  results  I  <Jepre- 


24 

cate  ?  Why  else  have  you  left  France,  where  at  least 
you  might  enjoy  those  social  recreations  to  which 
you  are  accustomed,  to  wander  in  the  wilds  of  Ame 
rica,  where  you  must  relinquish  every  such  enjoy 
ment  ?  Your  letter  is  silent  respecting  the  motives 
for  your  voyage,  which  has  set  us  adrift  on  an  ocean 
of  anxious  conjectures.  I  presume  it  is  political ; 
for  though  your  resources  must  be  narrow,  I  do  not 
suppose  you  can  have  launched  into  any  mercantile 
speculations,  with  a  view  to  retrieving  them.  But 
why  have  you  gone  at  all  ?  My  last  advices,  if  they 
ever  reached  you,  gave  you  reason  to  expect  that, 
upon  showing  a  proper  contrition,  government  may 
hereafter  permit  you  to  return  to  this,  the  only  re 
maining  asylum  of  tranquillity  and  happiness.  It  is 
now  conceded,  that  you  were  not  guilty  of  the  crimes 
charged  against  you  ;  and  though  it  is  too  late  to  re 
trieve  the  ruin  in  which  we  were  all  involved,  a  dis 
position  is  entertained  to  forgive  transgressions  that 
flowed  rather  from  youth  and  enthusiasm,  than  the 
judgment.  But  the  first,  and  an  indispensable  step, 
is  the  abandonment  of  the  French  and  their  domi- 
nions.  Nor  will  your  voyage  to  the  American  states 
be  an  acceptable  proceeding,  unless,  as  I  sometimes 
flatter  myself,  it  should  appear  that  in  consideration 
of  the  difficulties  attending  a  direct  transit,  you  have 
gone  there  only  preparatory  to  your  return  to  En 
gland. 

In  the  meanwhile  we  have  happier  tidings  to  com 
municate.  I  do  not,  you  observe,  date,  as  hereto 
fore,  from  Killmallock.  Since  my  last,  every  re 
straint  has  been  removed  from  our  persons,  and  I 


25 

have  succeeded,  through  the  influence  of  Lord 
Moira,  in  obtaining  a  place  in  the  Customs,  which 
yields  about  1001.  a  year  :  a  miserable  pittance,  to  be 
sure,  compared  with  the  affluence  we  fell  from,  but 
still  a  great  amelioration  of  our  condition  for  the  last 
five  years.  Upon  receiving  the  appointment,  I  re 
paired  immediately  to  London,  without  even  taking 
Dublin  in  my  way,  and  entered  with  alacrity  upon 
the  duties  of  a  place,  which  formerly  I  should  have 
considered  with  much  contempt.  It  requires,  in 
deed,  my  most  assiduous  attention ;  and  when  I  re 
flect  on  what  I  was  born  to,  all  the  philosophy  I  have 
learned  is  requisite  to  enable  me  to  dwell  with  com 
posure  on  a  reverse  imposed  upon  me  and  my  inno 
cent  family  by  an  accusation  so  wicked  and  unjust. 
As  long  as  we  were  under  any  sort  of  confinement, 
a  principle  of  resistance  suppressed  the  emotions  of 
despair.  But  now  that  there  is  no  longer  any  pres 
sure  to  create  such  a  reaction,  the  firstlings  of  mis 
fortune  prove  extremely  bitter.  We  are,  however, 
tranquil,  at  least,  if  not  contented.  I  have  taken  and 
furnished,  in  the  homeliest  style,  a  small  house  in 
Shugg  Lane,  where  your  sister  has  lately  lain  in  with 
our  fifth  daughter,  two  of  whom  (I  may  almost  thank 
God  !)  have  been  removed  from  this  world  of  mourn 
ing.  The  expense  of  living  is  enormous,  especially 
to  us,  who  have  all  our  economy  to  learn ;  and  no 
one,  who  has  not  been  in  a  similar  situation,  can 
conceive  the  infinite  petty  impositions  and  exactions 
of  which  we  are  the  prey.  The  air  of  London,  or 
perhaps  it  is  of  this  confined  part  of  it,  does  not 
agree  with  Jane.  But  she  bears  the  inconveniences 

D 


26 

and  privations,  to  which  we  must  submit,  with  a  se 
renity  and  fortitude,  that  administer  to  me  perpetual 
consolation.  With  such  an  example,  whatever  I  may 
feel,  I  should  be  ashamed  to  complain.  During  the 
principal  part  of  the  day,  I  am  necessarily  from  home. 
We  see  no  company  whatever,  and  live  in  the  ut 
most  privacy  and  retirement.  I  have  no  books ;  but 
there  is  a  library  in  the  neighbourhood,  where  I  may 
be  furnished  if  I  will.  What  leisure  hours  I  have, 
particularly  the  evening,  I  employ  in  educating  my 
children ;  in  which  task,  when  she  is  not  indisposed, 
their  mother  is  my  assistant. 

As  if  to  reconcile  us  to  our  lot  by  proving  how 
much  worse  it  might  be,  we  have  been  already  vi 
sited  with  afflictions  superadded  to  its  ordinary  and 
unavoidable  hardships.  Soon  after  we  were  settled  in 
this  house,  a  fire  broke  out  one  night  in  an  adjoining 
street,  to  which  I  ran  in  order  to  assist  in  putting  it 
out,  while  Jane  and  the  children  mounted  up  into  the 
garret  to  have  a  better  view  of  the  danger.  The  par 
lour  and  chamber  being  thus  deserted,  some  of  those 
harpies  who  are  always  on  the  alert  in  this  city  to 
take  advantage  of  confusion,  found  means  to  strip 
our  ill-fated  habitation  of  every  article  of  furniture. 
Not  a  piece  was  left ;  and  we  were  put  to  the  ex 
pense,  which  we  could  but  ill  bear,  of  buying  an  en 
tire  new  stock,  or  rather  I  should  say  another  stock ; 
for,  far  from  being  new,  it  was  procured  at  second 
hand,  at  a  sale  of  the  goods  of  some  companion  in 
distress,  which  were  brought  to  the  hammer  by  an 
execution.  This  accident  caused  us  a  great  deal  of 
vexation  and  trouble  ;  and  we  had  hardly  repaired  its 


ravages  by  pledging  my  unpaid  salary  for  payment 
of  the  debts  thus  contracted,  when  another  inroad 
was  as  unexpectedly  made  on  our  peace,  which 
threatened  much  more  serious  consequences.  I  was 
walking  along  the  wharves  in  a  dress,  as  it  should 
seem,  too  indicative  of  my  poverty,  when  a  press- 
gang  seized  on  me,  and,  in  spite  of  my  resistance, 
remonstrances  and  entreaties,  hurried  me  on  board  a 
guard  ship,  where  I  lay  for  two  days  in  momentary 
expectation  of  being  taken  before  the  mast  of  a  man 
of  \var.  My  deliverance  was  owing  to  the  resolution 
and  conduct  of  that  incomparable  woman,  whom  in 
all  my  trials  I  have  found  a  tutelary  angel ;  and  whom 
it  is  the  keenest  of  my  pangs  to  think  I  have  re 
duced  to  indigence  and  wretchedness.  She  locked 
up  our  house,  and  with  her  daughters  hanging  on 
her  arms,  flew  to  the  admiralty,  where,  having  made 
her  way  through  the  contumely  of  underlings  and 
the  repulses  of  their  lords,  she  never  ceased  her  suit 
till  an  order  was  granted  for  my  release.  Even  this 
had  nearly  come  too  late  ;  for  it  was  with  no  small 
difficulty  I  satisfied  the  officers  of  the  custom-house, 
that  my  absence  was  accidental,  and  not  owing  to 
some  irregularity,  which  ought  to  deprive  me  of  my 
place. 

But  I  shall  tire  you  with  these  sorry  details ; 
which,  melancholy  as  they  are,  I  cannot  but  think 
present  an  existence  preferable  to  the  vagabond  ca 
reer  you  follow.  A  few  months  will  inure  us  to 
lowliness,  and  clothe  our  humble  fire- side  with  all 
the  ineffable  charms  of  home.  If  you  will  but  bring 
the  large  accession  of  relief  which  your  society 


28 

would  afford,  I  fondly  persuade  myself  we  could 
forget  the  abundance  in  which  we  once  flourished, 
make  a  merit  of  adversity,  and  live  on  the  hope  of 
better  things. 

When,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  of  a  Sunday,  I 
take  a  short  leave  of  that  gloomy  part  of  this  vast 
metropolis  in  which  we  reside,  and  wander  through 
the  magnificent  squares  and  parks  of  the  west, 
thronged  with  gay  equipages  and  smiling  multitudes, 
my  breast  swells  with  admiration  at  the  unequalled 
prosperity  of  Great  Britain,  whose  inhabitants,  re 
posing  under  the  shield  of  the  mistress  of  the  world, 
can  be  thus  secure  and  happy,  while  hosts  of  ene 
mies  in  vain  environ  and  beset  them.  At  such  a 
moment  I  can  chide  my  selfish  misery,  and  almost 
wish  I  had  not  been  born  an  Irishman  and  bred  a 
catholic.  How  different  is  the  scene  that  must  strike 
your  observation  among  the  demi- savages  of  Ame 
rica  ;  where  a  weak  and  ignorant  government  is 
idly  engaged  in  framing  laws  for  an  uncivilized  and 
heterogeneous  population.  After  all,  the  lion  is  the 
noblest  beast.  Let  France  and  Russia,  with  their 
tributary  potentates,  conspire  against  him,  and  the 
American  eaglet  too  show  his  impotent  talons ;  the 
lion  shakes  his  imperial  mane  in  dauntless  defiance 
of  them  all.  The  American  federation,  I  suppose, 
cannot  maintain  itself  much  longer.  According  to 
the  best  judgment  I  can  form  of  the  prospects  of 
that  distracted  country,  the  crisis  is  not  very  distant, 
when  it  will  implore  once  more  the  protection  of  a 
parent  state,  which  it  has  ever  studied  to  outrage. 
Notwithstanding  all  the  injuries  that  have  been  re- 


29 

ceived  from  those  despicable  freebooters  by  this  mag 
nanimous  nation,  I  believe  the  cup  of  reconciliation 
is  not  yet  exhausted.  But  let  them  beware  the  em 
brace  of  France.  After  seeing  so  many  allies  hugged 
to  death  by  that  perfidious  power,  they  deserve  their 
doom  if  they  accept  the  kiss  of  corruption. 

Good  night.  It  is  now  past  twelve  o'clock,  and  I 
have  been  kept  from  my  bed  to  so  unusual  an  hour 
by  the  gratification  I  feel  in  pouring  forth  my  feel 
ings  to  you.  If  you  will  not  come  and  live  with  us 
in  England,  I  am  afraid  we  must  go  and  die  with 
vou  in  America. 


LETTER  IV. 


FROM  1NCI1IQUIN  TO  PHAEAMOND. 

Dated  at  Washington. 

WHILE  I  was  at  Baltimore,  the  accidental  cir 
cumstance  of  our  living  in  the  same  hotel  made  me 
acquainted  with  a  young  Greek  merchant,  who  has 
since  become  my  companion  here,  where  we  share 
an  uncomfortable  chamber  together.  As  he  is  to  be 
your  correspondent,  on  this  occasion,  and  perhaps 
oftener,  it  is  proper  you  should  be  generally  inform 
ed  that  he  is  a  native  of  Athens,  who  received  a  mer 
cantile  education  in  the  English  factory  at  S  ^rna. 
Having  finished  his  apprenticeship  last  year,  in  a 
spirit  of  enterprise  not  usual  in  a  modern  Greek,  he 
resolved  on  accompanying  a  commercial  adventure 
to  this  country  ;  where  he  arrived  a  few  weeks  since 
with  an  investment,  which  good  luck  has  doubled 
in  profit.  His  amiable  disposition,  and  the  ideas 
naturally  excited  by  the  presence  of  an  Athenian, 
together  with  such  scanty  intelligence  as  is  to  be 
gleaned  from  his  conversation,  respecting  his  coun 
try  and  language,  both  so  idolatrously  venerable  in 
my  eyes,  have  attached  me  to  his  society.  In  con 
sideration  of  the  friendly  relations  exiting  between 
us,  he  sometimes  reads  to  me  his  letters  to  a  fellow 


31 

apprentice  at  Smyrna  ;  and  to-day  granted  my  request 
to  take  a  copy  of  one,  written,  as  they  all  are,  in 
Italian,  in  which  he  communicates  his  ideas  of  this 
federal  domain,  or  city,  as  it  is  called,  propter  dig 
nitatem,  I  suppose,  together  with  a  narrative  of  the 
mishaps  that  lately  befel  him  in  the  sylvan  suburbs  of 
Washington.  As  you  will  have  received  before  this 
the  letter*  containing  my  views  of  this  singular  capi 
tal,  I  shall  present  my  fellow  traveller's  without  com 
ment  ;  observing  only,  that  I  have  no  other  reason 
for  believing  his  narrative  to  be  fabulous,  (as  it  is  all 
very  possible,)  than  that  with  the  fancy  and  vivacity 
of  an  ancient  Greek,  and  all  a  traveller's  prejudices, 
he  does  not  unite  a  Turk's  deliberation  ;  but  notwith 
standing  a  total  ignorance  of  mankind,  and  indeed 
of  every  thing,  except  half  a  dozen  different  lan 
guages  that  seem  to  be  equally  familiar  to  him,  he 
commonly  marches  straight  forward  on  his  conclu 
sions,  and  seizes  them  by  storm,  without  the  least 
regard  to  the  ordinary  process  of  getting  to  them  by 
a  course  of  reasoning.  The  truth  is,  that  the  foun 
dations  of  this  federal  city  have  not  been  laid  under 
prosperous  auspices;  and  it  is  the  only  part  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  of  America  I  have  ever  seen  on  the  decline. 
Commenced  on  a  huge,  unwieldy  scale,  in  a  district 
occupied  by  slave-holders,  without  the  habits  of  in 
dustry  or  the  spring  of  commerce,  instead  of  rising 
like  Carthage,  instans  operi,  regnisquefutiiris^  the  enor 
mous  joints  fall  asunder  before  they  can  be  well  knit 
together ;  and  the  symptoms  of  premature  dilapida- 

*  This  letter  must  have  miscarried  or  been  suppressed,  as 
it  does  not  appear E. 


32 

tion  appear  when  the  implements  of  construction 
are  not  yet  taken  away.  A  few  scattered  hamlets, 
many  miles  remote  from  each  other,  compose  all  that 
has  arisen  of  the  promised  metropolis ;  while  as 
many  vast  half-finished  piles  of  building,  at  great 
distances  apart,  from  commanding  eminences,  frown 
desolate  and  despairing  on  the  dreary  wastes  that  se 
parate  and  environ  them.  Till  lately  the  city  was 
thickly  wooded,  and  the  American  Numa  might  woo 
his  Egeria  in  a  hundred  groves.  But  much  of  this 
ornament  has  been  cut  down  for  fuel,  leaving,  how 
ever,  enough  for  shooting  grounds  to  amuse  those 
addicted  to  sports  of  the  field.  Not  more  than 
7,000  souls  are  computed  as  the  population,  spread 
over  an  immense  area.  Of  these  probably  one  half 
are  blacks ;  and  most  of  the  remainder  members  of 
congress,  clerks,  servants,  innkeepers,  or  in  some 
way  appurtenant  to  the  government,  prepared  to  fol 
low  its  fortunes,  if  necessary,  to  the  banks  of  the 
Missouri,  or  the  coast  of  California. 

***** 
***** 


*  Several  lines  are  erased  here E. 


FROM  CARAVAN. 

Dated  at  the  federal  city  of  Washington,  in  the 
district  of  Columbia,  state  of  Maryland,  one 
of  the  United  States  in  North  America. 

IN  my  last,  which  I  have  not  yet  had  an  op 
portunity  of  sending,  I  discussed  the  merits  of  the 
American  government ;  a  subject  new  to  me,  and 
upon  which,  therefore,  my  reflections  may  not  be 
conclusive  :  though  I  must  say,  the  more  I  see  and 
think,  the  fuller  is  my  conviction,  that  this  govern 
ment,  called  republican,  is  not  as  popular  as  all  go 
vernments  ought  to  be ;  and  instead  of  being  ma 
naged  by  the  people,  is  too  subservient  to  various 
contradictory  interests.  The  Turkish  constitution, 
under  which  happy  and  glorious  empire  we  have  thq 
inestimable  good  fortune  to  live,  is  certainly  much 
more  simple  and  popular.  Our  gengicheris,  the  mi 
litia,  as  they  are  called  here,  or  great  body  of  the 
people,  immediately,  and  without  any  intervention, 
choose,  declare,  and  instal  a  sultan,  or  president,  as 
the  chief  magistrate  is  styled  in  this  country  ;  who, 
as  he  thus  proceeds  directly  from  the  people,  is  di 
rectly  responsible  to  them  ;  and  whenever  he  misbe 
haves,  or  they  are  dissatisfied,  is  by  them  directly 
removed,  to  make  ropm  for  another  object  of  their 
immediate  creation  and  image.  It  appears  to  me  to 

be  absurd  to  talk  of  representing  the  people,   when 

E 


34 

in  fact  the  representative,  improperly  so  styled,  is 
chosen  not  by  the  people,  but  by  a  small  number  of 
electors,  who  are  themselves  variously  appointed, 
many  of  them  not  by  the  people,  but  by  other  elec 
tors,  who  again  do  not,  in  all  instances,  emanate  di 
rectly  from  the  community  at  large,  and  who,  for  the 
most  part,  never  saw,  and  never  may  see,  the  object 
of  their  selection.  The  Turkish  constitution  is  un 
doubtedly  the  lineal  descendant  and  most  precious 
relic  of  the  ancient  Grecian  republic,  wherein  the 
mass  of  the  people  act  in  mass.  A  leader  is  called  to 
his  post  by  acclamation ;  and  what  is  the  difference 
whether  the  instrument  of  his  removal  be  an  oyster 
shell,  or  a  bow-string  ?  Such  at  least  is  my  opinion, 
which,  as  it  is  considerably  enlarged  upon  in  my 
last,  I  will  not  resume  at  full  here,  but  submit  to  your 
judgment. 

Since  I  wrote  that  letter,  many  strange  and  truly 
American  adventures  have  befallen  me,  which  fur 
nish  a  fruitful  subject  for  this,  written,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  in  a  sick  chamber,  to  which  my  disasters  in  this 
inhospitable  country  have  confined  me. 

For  several  days  after  my  arrival  here,  I  did  not 
know  I  was  in  the  city  of  Washington,  the  capital  of 
America,  which  fact  I  have  now,  however,  ascer 
tained  beyond  a  doubt ;  though,  had  I  taken  no 
other  evidence  than  that  of  my  senses,  I  might  still 
be  incredulous.  This  federal  city  is  of  great  dimen 
sions  ;  ten  English  miles  square.  But  as  it  is  the 
head  of  the  wildest  and  most  immense  territories  any 
where  'united  under  one  empire,  where  every  thing 
affects  to  be  representative,  unlike  Smyrna  or  Con- 


35 

stantinople,  or  any  other  city  I  ever  saw  or  heard 
of,  Washington  is  not  built  compact  or  in 
streets,  but,  as  an  image  of  the  federal  dominion, 
lies  scattered  over  a  wilderness,  yet  in  a  great  mea 
sure  unreclaimed  from  a  state  of  nature.  The 
parks  and  pleasure  grounds,  attached  to  the  man- 
sions  of  the  principal  officers  of  government,  are 
so  extensive,  that  though  I  have  been  very  indus 
trious,  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  see  much  of  the 
town ;  detached  portions  of  which,  I  understand, 
are  situated  a  few  miles  off,  in  different  directions 
from  where  I  lodge.  Within  sight  of  my  window, 
there  is  a  large  castle,  with  a  flag  flying  from  the  top, 
in  which  two  hundred  congress-men,  as  they  are  call 
ed,  are  confined,  like  muedhdkins  in  the  minaret  of 
a  mosque,  preaching  day  and  night  for  the  salvation 
of  the  people.  Attached  to  the  president's  palace,  as 
there  is  to  the  sultan's,  there  is  a  garden  stretching  all 
the  way  to  the  water's  edge.  But  I  believe  he  has 
no  harem,  and  but  one  wife  ;  what  his  religion  is,  I 
have  not  yet  discovered.  Whatever  I  learn  here 
after,  I  shall  take  care  to  let  you  know.  At  present, 
every  thing  appears  to  me  to  be  on  a  great  scale.  The 
barber,  who  shaves  me  of  a  morning,  comes  on 
horseback  with  his  razors ;  and  the  physician,  whom 
I  sent  for  in  haste  to  examine  my  wounds,  lives  five 
miles  from  my  lodgings. 

But  alas  !  at  the  thought  of  a  physician  my  bones 
ache  anew  ;  and  my  heart  sinks  at  the  recollection  of 
my  miraculous  escapes.  As  the  story  of  my  adven 
tures  will  sufficiently  exhibit  this  American  Palmyra, 
I  proceed  to  lay  them  before  you,  that  you  may  de- 


36 

cide  whether,  as  you  promised,  you  will  still  have 
the  courage  to  follow  me  to  the  new  world. 

Of  a  fine  morning,  three  days  ago,  I  sallied  out 
for  a  ramble  before  breakfast,  thinking,  perhaps,  to 
see  something  worthy  of  observation  ;  and  as  adven 
tures  were  my  object,  I  left  the  highway,  or  avenue, 
as  it  is  called,  and  struck  into  the  moor,  that  com 
poses  a  great  part  of  the  city.     I  had  not  walked  a 
mile,  when  I  heard  a  gun  go  off,  and  saw  the  smoke 
rising  at  a  little  distance.    Not  caring  to  encounter 
fire-arms  in  so  wild  a  place,  I  was  turning  back, 
when  I  saw  a  dog  hunting  about  among  the  bushes, 
and  close  after  him  a  young  man,  who  came  run 
ning  towards  me,  not  to  plunder,  as  I  for  an  instant 
apprehended,  but  merely  to  inquire  if  I  had  seen  a 
covey  of  quails  flying  that  way.    He  had  a  powder- 
horn  and  shot- bag  over  his  shoulders,  a  liquor-flask 
hanging  on  one  side,  and  a  pouch  full  of  dead  quails 
on  the  other,  was  altogether  rather  coarsely  capari 
soned,  and  seemed  to  be  intent  on  his  game.    Just 
after  he  accosted  me,,  an  officer,  in  a  rich  habit  and 
laced  hat,  but  unarmed,  came  riding  very  fast  over 
the  heath,  leading  a  horse  ready  saddled  and  bridled, 
and  drawing  up  close  to  where  we  stood,  pulled  off 
his  hat,  and  said  to  the  hunter,  "  Sir,  there  are  des 
patches  just  arrived."   "  When?"  cried  the  hunter. 
"  Within  this   half  hour — by   express — two  sets,* 
Sir."     "  Give  me  the  horse,  and  take  my  gun," 

*  This  accidental  exposition,  from  a  disinterested  quarter, 
of  a  point  that  has  been  so  unfortunately  contested  between 
the  U.  S.  and  G.  B.  must  place  the  fact  beyond  all  future 
controversy. 


37 

added  the  hunter  hastily ;  and  disencumbering  him 
self  from  his  shooting  accoutrements,  he  vaulted  into 
the  saddle  of  the  led  horse,  and  galloped  out  of  sight 
in  a  minute.  All  amazed  at  this  mysterious  meeting, 
"  Pray,  Sir,'  said  I  respectfully  to  the  officer,  as  he 
was  gathering  up  the  things  the  hunter  had  thrown 
off,  "  Who  is  that  ?"  "  That  is  the  envoy,"  answer- 
ed  the  officer,  with  an  air  of  dignity.  "  But  who  is 
the  envoy?"  replied  I,  "  What  is  an  envoy?  That's 
not  the  president,  is  it  ?"  "  The  president,"  retorted 
the  officer,  with  a  sneer,  "  I  believe  not — that's  an 
other  guess  sort  of  a  person —  that's  the  envoy  ex 
traordinary."  "  But  why  is  he  extraordinary  ?"  said 
I.  "  Why  because,"  said  he.  "  Because  why  ?"  said 
I.  "  Why  because  he  is  the  British  ambassador, 
my  master,  and  the  king  his  master's  servant,  and  I 
am  his  servant,  and  neither  he  nor  I  cares  a  d— -n 
for  the  president,  for  the  matter  of  that,"  said  the 
officer,  and  mounting  his  beast,  he  trotted  away 
whistling  after  the  other. 

And  is  it  possible,  thought  I,  that  that  young  hunter 
is  the  British  ambassador,  the  representative  of  the 
great  merchant  monarch,  whose  fleet  forced  the  Dar 
danelles,  and  threatened  to  batter  down  Constanti 
nople. 

With  this  sort  of  mental  ejaculations  I  amused 
myself,  strolling  along  in  a  different  direction  from 
that  I  had  followed  at  first,  and  not  paying  much  at 
tention  to  which  way  I  went,  till  I  came  to  a  thicket , 
where  I  was  roused  from  my  reverie  by  the  report 
of  another  gun,  and  looking  about,  I  saw  a  rabbit, 
pursued  by  a  couple  of  dogs  in  full  cry.  As  I  was 


38 

always  fond  of  the  chase,  you  know,  and  used  often 
to  amuse  myself  in  this  way  on  the  hills  near  Ismir, 
I  joined  instinctively  in  the  pursuit,  shouted  to  en 
courage  the  dogs,  and  made  the  best  exertions  I 
could  to  keep  up  with  them.  The  rabbit  doubled, 
and  made  back  for  the  cover.  Just  as  she  was 
escaping  into  the  thicket,  another  shot  whizzed  by 
my  head,  and  down  dropped  puss  dead  at  my  feet. 
Casting  around  for  the  person  from  whom  it  came, 
I  presently  descried  a  gentleman  under  a  large  tree, 
leaning  on  his  fowling-piece,  and  calling  to  the  dogs 
to  come  in.  As  I  approached  him,  he  accosted  me 
in  French,  telling  me  that  I  ran  very  well ;  to  which 
I  answered,  also  in  French,  that  he  shot  very  well. 
Being  thus  mutually  introduced  by  a  slight  compli 
ment,  we  entered  into  conversation  about  the  dogs, 
the  rabbits,  the  ground,  the  weather,  and  a  variety 
of  such  indifferent  subjects,  which  lasted,  I  suppose, 
for  half  an  hour,  when  a  carriage  drove  up  on  a  road 
a  few  paces  distant,  into  which  the  Frenchman  got 
with  his  dogs  and  dead  rabbit,  and  drove  away. 

By  this  time  I  began  to  think  of  my  breakfast,  and 
of  returning.  But  on  reconnoitering  my  position, 
perceived  that  I  had  lost  all  trace  of  the  route.  A 
mussulman  knows  he  is  safe  till  his  hour  comes ; 
but  there  may  be  situations  in  which  it  is  no  sin  to 
feel  uneasy.  There  was  no  time  to  pause  in  such  a 
place,  where  I  did  not  know  but  that  the  next  thing 
I  met  might  be  a  carnivorous  Indian,  with  his  toma 
hawk,  riding  post  on  a  mammoth,  and  therefore,  ac 
cording  to  the  best  judgment  I  could  form  of  my  bear 
ings,  I  took  a  fresh  departure,  walking  on  at  a  gait  not 


39 

a  little  accelerated  by  an  increasing  appetite,  and  the 
dread  of  being  lost  or  devoured  in  the  federal  city. 
It  never  occurred  to  me  to  follow  the  carriage,  in 
which  I  might  have  found  a  conveyance  or  a  pilot : 
but  in  the  exigency  of  my  affairs,  I  pursued  a  course 
as  straight  as  the  nature  of  the  territory  would  admit, 
without  any  prospect,  or  prominent  object,  to  serve 
as  a  beacon.    Alter  wandering  a  miserable  time,  and 
thinking  over  all  those  lamentable  thoughts,  which 
occur  to  one  expecting  to  perish  in  an  inhospitable 
land,  when  I  began  almost  to  despair,   I  came  to  a 
hovel  inhabited  by  black  slaves ;   what  is  called  a 
negro  quarter.    It  was  a  wretched  log  house,  thatch. 
ed  with  straw,   with  neither  window  nor  chimney. 
There  was  a  mule  at  the  door,   making  a  meal  off 
the  roof;  a  cat,  three  dogs,  and  a  negro  child,  with 
no  other  covering  than  a  ragged  shirt,  through  which 
a  dingy  skin  showed  in  many  places.    I  asked  the 
way  to  my  lodgings ;  but  getting  no  answer  beyond 
barking,  purring  and  grinning,  went  into  the  house, 
where  I  was  more  fortunate.    There  was  an  old  wo 
man,  smoking  a  pipe,  not  more  than  an  inch  long,  a 
young  one  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  and  a  man,  seat 
ed  on  the  ground,  round  a  smoke  rather  than  a  fire, 
eating  cake  made  of  Indian  meal,  and  hominy,  a 
preparation  of   Indian    corn.     Upon   repeating   my 
inquiry,  as  I  entered,  the  man  came  to  the  door,  and 
showed  me  which  way  I  should  go — the  reverse  of 
that  I  had  been  travelling  for  an  hour  and  more. 

Finding  them  plentifully  supplied  with  proven 
der,  such  as  it  was,  and  my  appetite  rising  as  mr 
apprehensions  subsided,  I  joined  the  sombre  err- 


40 

cle,  and  partook  of  a  luncheon  of  the  cake,  with  some 
hominy.  It  was  now  almost  noon,  and  these  poor 
people  were  taking  their  dinner.  As  I  plyed  them 
with  a  great  many  questions,  which  they  answered  as 
well  as  they  could,  in  their  turn  they  put  some  to 
me,  and  amon^  others  one  that  led  to  an  important 
disclosure.  "  I  guess  massa  belong  to  the  French 
bassador,"  said  the  young  woman,  showing  all  her 
teeth.  "  What's  that?"  answered  I.  "  Him  that 
shoots  rabbits ;"  and  from  a  little  more  information 
on  this  subject,  interlarded  between  mouthfuls  of 
hominy,  I  was  given  fully  to  understand,  that  the 
hunter,  whom  I  last  met,  who  went  away  in  a  carriage 
freighted  with  rabbits,  was  no  other  than  the  plenipo 
of  another  mighty  monarch,  who  amuses  himself 
by  field  sports  in  the  heart  of  the  American  capital. 
Nothing  ought  to  surprise  in  this  country,  or  one 
might  be  permitted  to  wonder  at  meeting  two  such 
personages  scouring  the  forests  for  recreation.  But 
I  am  surfeited  with  amazement ;  and  therefore,  after 
receiving  very  particular  instructions  from  my  black 
hosts  how  to  proceed  in  order  to  find  the  shortest  cut 
home,  I  gave  them  a  fippenny  bit,  (a  species  of 
American  coin,)  and  set  forward  once  more,  deter 
mined  never  again,  whatever  oddities  I  might  mect3 
to  try  so  early  an  excursion  in  a  federal  city. 

I  was  to  go  through  a  copse  that  lay  on  my  right, 
being  several  miles  from  my  destination,  and  after 
clearing  the  wood,  to  follow  a  foot-path  I  should  see. 
Into  the  wood  I  hastened ;  but  had  not  gone  a  hun 
dred  yards,  when  I  heard  two  shots  in  quick  succes 
sion  close  to  me.  Nothing  but  riflemen  and  sharp 


41 

bhooting  in  this  country,  thought  I ;  and  turning  an 
angle  of  the  track,  I  discovered  a  scene  which  I 
could  not  comprehend  at  first,  but  which  was  soon 
brought  home  to  me  in  a  terrible  explanation.  There 
were  two  men  standing  a  few  paces  apart,  facing 
each  other ;  two  more  at  a  little  distance  loading  pis- 
tols ;  and  two  others  farther  off,  standing  together. 
They  all  looked  grave  and  anxious — not  a  word  was 
said — but  a  presentiment  of  what  their  business  was, 
chilled  me  with  apprehension.  In  a  few  seconds, 
each  one  of  those  loading  pistols  went  to  those  that 
stood  opposed,  and  handed  a  pistol  to  each  of  them. 
They  then  placed  them  precisely  to  a  certain  spot, 
adjusted  their  postures  so  as  to  exhibit  what,  as  I 
have  since  learned,  is  called  the  feather  edge,  and 
then  withdrawing  aside,  one  of  the  loaders  asked, 
"  Are  you  ready  ?"  "  Yes,"  said  the  other  two,  ad 
vancing  their  pistols.  "  Fire  when  you  please, v 
cried  the  loader.  At  the  word,  one  of  them  dis 
charged  his  piece,  and  the  other  receiving  the  ball 
in  his  body,  fell  to  the  ground,  his  pistol  going  oft* 
into  the  air  with  the  convulsive  distortion  of  his  fall. 
Immediately  all  but  the  man  who  had  perpetrated 
the  deed  ran  up  to  him  who  was  expiring,  and 
I,  springing  over  a  fence  against  which  I  was  leaning 
almost  petrified,  flew  to  join  the  assistance.  He  was 
weltering  in  the  blood  that  streamed  from  his  side, 
and  had  fainted  before  any  body  could  approach 
him.  The  two,  who  had  remained  at  a  distance, 
without  taking  any  active  part,  and  who  now  appear 
ed  to  be  surgeons,  with  as  much  despatch  as  they 
,  uncovered  his  body,  and  endeavoured,  by  cer- 


42 

tain  applications  they  had  prepared,  to  stanch  the 
blood.  In  a  short  time  the  wounded  revived  from 
his  swoon,  and  was  supported  in  the  lap  of  one  of 
the  assistants.  His  antagonist  now  drawing  nigh, 
shook  hands  with  him  with  great  emotion,  hurried 
off,  and  disappeared.  The  wounded  man  was  then 
laid  on  a  blanket,  and  carried  by  the  other  three, 
with  my  help,  to  a  close  carriage,  that  was  waiting 
near  the  place  of  action,  into  which  he  was  put,  the 
ghastliness  of  death  on  his  countenance,  and  the 
whole  party  slowly  drove  away. 

This  was  a  duel — a  barbarian  method  of  settling 
trivial  personal  disputes,  very  prevalent  in  some  parts 
of  America,  of  which,  as  I  am  told,  there  have  been 
several,  and  most  of  those  fatal,  this  season,  in  this 
neighbourhood. 

My  feelings  were  harrowed  to  a  most  painful  de~ 
gree  by  this  rencontre ;  and  as  soon  as  the  carriage 
was  out  of  sight,  I  resumed  my  path,  with  a  heavier 
heart  than  I  am  in  the  habit  of  bearing.  Frightful 
images  haunted  my  fancy,  and  I  startled  at  every 
bush  that  rustled.  It  was  my  fortune,  however,  on 
this  eventful  day,  to  have  my  gloomy  sympathies 
dispelled  by  a  spectacle  of  a  very  different  kind. 

After  I  left  the  wood,  in  which  this  melancholy 
affair  happened,  I  walked  some  two  or  three  miles, 
all  the  time  in  the  purlieus  of  the  federal  city,  with 
out  seeing  habitation  or  human  creature,  when,  from 
the  top  of  a  hill  I  was  passing,  my  attention  was  at 
tracted,  and  I  was  induced  to  abandon  the  road  I 
was  pursuing,  together  with  all  thoughts  of  imme 
diately  returning,  by  a  tumultuous  concourse  of  men, 


43 

horses  and  carriages,  which  I  could  discern  on  a 
distant  plain.  Glad  of  any  opportunity  of  changing 
the  grave  for  the  gay,  especially  when  my  mind  was 
so  uncommonly  dark,  and  wishing  to  see  all  that  is 
to  be  seen  in  this  ridiculous  country,  I  turned  aside 
from  my  path  to  follow  the  promise  of  so  much  no 
velty  and  speculation.  After  all  I  had  seen  so  lately, 
I  considered  it  no  more  than  prudent  to  approach 
with  circumspection,  and  not  to  commit  myself  till  I 
could  ascertain  what  was  the  purpose  of  a  tumul 
tuous  assembly,  from  which  clouds  of  dust,  and  a 
confused  din,  were  issuing  forth.  My  conjectures 
were  various,  and  I  should  have  remained  undecided 
all  day,  if  my  curiosity  had  not  got  the  better  of  my 
caution,  and  prompted  me,  at  all  events,  to  join  the 
throng.  It  proved  to  be  the  hippodrome,  an  amuse 
ment  to  which  the  Americans  are  much  addicted, 
and  in  which,  as  in  almost  every  thing  else,  they 
vainly  believe  they  excel.  It  is  held  in  a  large  open 
field,  no  more  like  the  Atmeidan,  than  Washington  is 
like  Constantinople.  Persons  of  all  descriptions,  from 
the  president  and  chief  officers  of  state  down  to  their 
negro  slaves,  were  collected  together,  driving  pell- 
mell  about  the  course,  shouting,  betting,  drinking, 
quarrelling  and  fighting.  Booths  and  tents  were 
erected,  in  some  of  which  refreshments  were  offered 
for  sale,  and  in  others  gambling  tables  were  kept ; 
and  stages  on  which  the  judges  of  the  course  were 
mounted.  You  must  not  be  astonished  at  hearing 
that  a  number  of  beautiful  females  were  present,  sit 
ting  exposed  on  the  tops  and  boxes  of  carriages,  and 
in  other  conspicuous  seats.  Every  line  of  separation 


44 

is  so  entirely  obliterated,  that  wherever  there  are 
men  you  may  be  sure  to  meet  women,  in  this  coun 
try  ;  and  for  my  own  part,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
women  in  the  end  will  ride  uppermost.  All  was 
uproar.  The  tramping  and  neighing  of  horses,  the 
din  of  bets,  the  jingle  of  glasses,  and  the  dissonance 
of  disputes,  filled  the  air.  At  last  the  horses  des 
tined  for  the  contest  were  led  out.  But  such  horses 
and  such  a  contest !  Instead  of  noble  rampant  ani 
mals,  bearing  their  crests  aloft,  and  pawing  the 
ground,  all  pride,  phrensy  and  ambition,  a  couple  of 
miserable  skeletons  crawled  tamely  up  to  the  goal ; 
for  in  this  perverse  country,  it  seems,  they  reduce 
instead  of  pampering  their  cattle  for  a  race,  and  for 
four  and  twenty  hours  beforehand,  allow  them  no 
thing  to  eat.  The  riders  were  dressed  in  parti 
coloured  clothes,  with  spurs  on  their  heels  and  whips 
In  their  hands,  to  excite  the  sorry  beasts  they  rode. 
Of  these  such  unintermitting  and  merciless  applica 
tion  was  made,  that  the  battered  brutes  bled  faster 
than  they  ran,  and  were  scarcely  able,  much  less 
willing,  to  move,  when  brought  up  for  the  second 
trial,  after  resting  from  the  first.  However,  they 
were  goaded  on  for  one  or  two  rounds,  when  one  of 
them,  overcome  by  debility  and  effort,  fell  down  and 
died  on  the  ground. 

Almost  as  exhausted  as  the  horses,  and  having  a 
very  long  walk  still  before  me,  I  threw  myself  into 
a  hackney-coach  to  ride  to  my  lodgings.  We  crept 
along,  and  it  was  almost  dark  before  we  got  near  the 
inn.  Hundreds  of  other  carriages,  horsemen,  foot- 
passengers,  chaises,  stages  and  carts  crossed  us,  dust- 


45 

ed  us,  and  delayed  us,  so  that  I  thought  I  was  doom 
ed  never  to  arrive.  At  last  we  began  to  climb  the 
hill  on  which  our  inn  stands,  and  I  was  felicitating 
myself  on  my  escape  from  the  day's  disasters,  when 
one  of  those  hurricanes,  to  which  Washington  is 
subject,  began  to  blow  like  an  Arabian  sirocco, 
whirling  the  dust  in  clouds  about  the  road.  I  ex 
perienced  many  a  gale  at  sea,  but  never  such  a  land 
breeze  as  this.  The  horses  could  hardly  stem  it. 
The  old  coach  creaked  to  the  blast.  The  coachman 
lashed  with  all  his  might — but  in  vain — the  tem 
pest  was  irresistible;  and  we  were  blown,  horses, 
hack  and  all,  off  the  road,  into  a  deep  ditch  at  the 
side,  where  I  lay  till  the  horses  were  cut  loose  from 
the  harness,  and  the  door  loosened  from  the  hinges, 
as  the  only  means  of  my  extrication. 

Before  I  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  help  myself, 
or  know  what  had  happened,  the  negro  had  crawled 
away  with  his  horses ;  and  the  first  moment  of  par 
tial  recollection  found  me  sitting  on  the  hub  of  one 
of  the  wheels,  that  was  lying  apart  from  the  carriage 
on  the  ground,  stupified,  skinned,  with  one  eye 
closed  up,  bruised,  mangled,  dislocated,  and  more 
dead  than  alive.  It  began  to  be  dark.  At  any  time 
I  should  have  been  perplexed  to  find  my  way  in  this 
desert ;  but  bewildered  as  my  senses  were,  I  got  up 
and  moved  on,  as  well  as  my  lameness,  blindness  and 
stupefaction  would  permit,  not  knowing  whither. 
Night  gained  on  me  apace,  with  all  those  apprehen 
sions  which  the  stoutest  heart  might  own  in  an  Ame 
rican  desert.  I  fancied  I  heard  the  growling  of  bears, 
the  howling  of  wolves,  and  the  hissing  of  rattle- 


46 

snakes.  The  melancholy  muck-a-wiss,  a  bird  that 
delights  in  the  dusk,  flickered  about  my  head,  a  flight 
of  bats  flitted  round  my  path,  and  a  legion  of  mos- 
chettoes,  a  sort  of  tarantula,  whose  bite  no  music 
will  cure,  fastened  on  my  face,  hands  and  legs,  raw 
as  they  were,  and  unprotected  from  their  venom. 
After  wandering  an  age  of  anxious  minutes,  groan- 
ing  with  my  hurts,  praying  for  some  relief,  and 
starting  at  the  strange  objects  that  perpetually  danced 
in  every  possible  shape  of  terror  before  my  remaining 
eye,  of  a  sudden  I  was  roused  from  a  momentary 
forgetfulness  of  all  other  fears  by  a  shout  bursting 
forth  just  beside  me,  as  if  a  whole  tribe  of  Mohawks 
were  putting  up  their  whoop  of  destruction.  Rivet- 
ted  to  the  spot,  I  never  should  have  ventured  to  leave 
it,  had  I  not  gradually  discovered  that  the  cause  of 
my  immediate  alarm  was  an  innocent  jack-ass, 
browsing  close  by,  whose  braying  I  had  mistaken  for 
an  Indian  war  whoop.  Reviving  to  something  better 
than  my  former  level  of  despondency,  I  determined 
to  make  this  beast  the  instrument  of  my  rescue.  As 
I  found  he  had  a  bridle  on,  though  no  saddle  or  pan 
niers,  I  clambered  on  to  his  bare  back,  and  jerking 
him  into  a  jog,  committed  my  fate  to  his  superior 
knowledge  of  the  city,  suffering  him  to  carry  me 
which  way  he  chose,  and  transported  at  even  this, 
change  in  my  forlorn  circumstances.  The  branches 
flapped  me  in  the  face ;  the  briars  and  brushwood 
scratched  my  lacerated  legs  ;  but  nevertheless  I  plod- 
ded  on  with  my  ass,  trusting  to  his  instinct  for  being 
brought  to  some  human  habitation.  We  had  not 

travelled  far,  when,  from  the  top  of  an  eminence,  I 
1 


47 

saw  a  great  light,  towards  which  my  ass  seemed  to  di 
rect  his  steps.  Imagine  my  horror,  as  I  approached, 
at  hearing  the  most  piercing  shrieks  and  yells,  pro 
ceeding  from  a  multitude  of  voices,  male  and  fe 
male.  With  all  my  might  I  endeavoured  to  check 
the  ass,  or  make  him  change  his  direction,  but  to 
no  purpose  ;  he  redoubled  his  speed,  pressing  on  to 
the  fire,  which  now  blazed  full  in  view,  exhibiting 
the  most  dreadful  spectacle  that  can  be  fancied.  In 
spite  of  all  my  efforts  I  was  hurried  close  upon  the 
flames,  and  should  have  been  carried  into  the  midst 
of  the  cannibals  that  were  dancing  around  them,  had 
I  not,  finding  all  contest  with  my  ass  unavailing, 
thrown  myself  off  his  back,  as  he  galloped  in  full 
charge,  and,  at  the  expense  of  a  few  more  bruises, 
fallen  behind  a  bush,  that  served  to  conceal  me. 
There  I  lay,  surveying  the  awful  scene  before  me. 
Good  God!  thought  I,  quivering  more  than  the 
leaves  with  the  evening  breezes,  am  I  on  earth  or  in 
hell  ?  A  huge  fire  of  brushwood  was  crackling  on 
the  ground,  round  which  stood  a  number  of  ne 
groes,  clapping  their  hands,  beating  their  breasts, 
and  uttering  the  most  barbarous  shouts,  while  a  fe 
male  lay  at  their  feet  in  convulsions,  but  unresisting, 
and  apparently  in  momentary  expectation  of  being 
roasted  and  devoured.  If  my  limbs  had  been  unin 
jured,  I  could  not  have  moved  from  the  spot,  such 
was  the  terror  that  overcame  me.  The  incantations 
grew  worse ;  men  and  women,  dressed  to  be  sure 
like  the  slaves  in  general  of  this  country,  and  some 
of  them  with  books  in  their  hands,  but  in  all  other 
respects  like  ferocious  and  frantic  savages,  seemed  to 


48 

vie  with  each  other  in  contortions  of  the  face,  and  fury 
of  gesticulation.  They  writhed,  bellowed,  foamed 
at  the  mouth,  hung  over  the  wretch  on  the  ground, 
and  exhibited  every  sign  of  cannibals  greedy  for 
their  prey.  Just  at  the  fatal  moment,  when  they  all 
huddled  round  the  victim  on  the  ground,  and  were 
about  to  begin  their  accursed  meal,  a  flash  of  sharp 
lightning  eclipsed  their  infenial  light,  followed  by  a 
peal  of  thunder  that  broke  over  their  heads :  and 
upon  looking  up,  which  I  had  not  before  ventured  to 
do,  I  perceived  a  storm  on  the  point  of  breaking 
loose.  Never  were  the  first  streaks  of  a  clear  sky  so 
welcome  to  the  shipwrecked  mariner,  as  was  this  tre 
mendous  storm  to  me,  which  soon  came  down  in 
torrents  of  rain,  with  continued  streams  of  lightning 
and  peals  of  thunder  ;  for  it  broke  up  the  pandemo 
nium,  and  snatched  me  from  the  most  dreadful  de 
struction,  as  I  had  little  hope  of  escaping  being  the 
next  victim.  As  soon  as  the  rain  interrupted  their 
orgies,  the  blacks  ceased,  though  without  any  symp 
toms  of  haste  or  trepidation.  The  woman  on  the 
ground  sprang  on  to  her  feet ;  and  the  whole  hell? 
some  on  jack-asses  and  mules,  others  on  horseback, 
and  most  of  them  on  foot,  marched  off  to  the  mea 
sure  of  a  kind  of  dirge,  which  they  all  joined  in  sing- 
ing.  After  the  last  sounds  died  away  amid  the  pelt 
ing  of  the  shower  and  reverberations  of  the  thunder, 
rolling  from  hill  to  hill  around  the  amphitheatre  that 
surrounds  the  city,  I  once  more  crept  out,  drenched 
with  rain,  but  delighted ;  forgetting  my  injuries, 
blind  and  halt  as  I  was,  considering  nothing  but  the 
dangers  I  had  miraculously  escaped,  and  how  to  fly  as 


49 

far  and  as  fast  as  possible,  from  this  the  most  friglv. 
ful  purlieu  in  the  whole  city  of  Washington ;  and 
taking  a  direction  opposite  to  that  in  which  the  can 
nibals   departed,    hobbled  along,    till,  to  my  inex 
pressible  joy,  I  heard  a  dog  bark.     Presently  a  little 
glimmering  light  twinkled  from  no  great  distance, 
such  a  one  as  I  thought  I  might  approach  without 
risk,  and  in  a  few  minutes  more  I  was  welcomed 
into  a  decent  log  farm-house,  where  a  family  of  a 
man  and  three  women  were  seated  round  a  table, 
eating  mush,  another  preparation  of  Indian  corn  ;  of 
which,  after  having  the  blood  and  dirt  washed  from 
my  face,  I  was  presented  with  a  bowl.     It  was  now 
late  at  night ;  and  I   found   I  was  further  from  my 
lodgings  than  [  could  possibly  walk  in  my  maimed 
condition,  in  the  dark,  and  without  a  guide.     When, 
therefore  the  man  and  his  wife  and  their  three  boys, 
went  to  bed  in  one  of  the  beds  there  were  in  the  room, 
and  the  two  young  women  in  the  other,  the   house 
consisting  of  but  one  apartment,  I  took  the  liberty  to 
stretch  my  aching  limbs  upon  the  floor,  where  all  my 
cares  were  forgotten  in  a  sound  sleep  till  morning. 
But  when  1  awoke,  and  attempted  to  get  up,  my 
bruises  were  so  stiff,  that  I  could  scarcely  stand, 
much  less  walk  a  mile  and  a  half  to  my  lodgings. 
In  this  emergency,  my  host;  who  was  going  to  our 
hotel,  with  a  cart  load  of  potatoes,  generously  gave 
me  a  ride  on  the  top  of  them  ;  and  shot  me  down  at 
the  inn  door  with  the  rest  of  his  burthen.     For  three- 
days  I  have  not  been  out  of  my  chamber.    Blood-let 
ting,  fever,  physic  and  aches,  a  cold  room,  and  a  hard 
bed,  continually  call  to  mind  the  perils  of  a  ramble  in 


50 

the  city  of  Washington ;  and  I  sigh  once  more,  be 
lieve  me,  Selim,  for  the  cheerful  crowds  and  fragrant 
environs,  the  beautiful  oay  and  beloved  scenes  of 
Smyrna. 


LETTER  V. 


VROM  INCHIQUIN  TO  PHARAMOND. 

Dated  at  Washington. 

THE  whole  world  of  Washington  is  concentrated 
in  the  capitol.  In  the  absence  of  all  other  places  of 
public  resort  and  recreation,  the  galleries  of  Con 
gress  are  attended  by  those  who  have  no  better  pas 
time  than  political  debates  ;  and,  in  common  with  the 
rest,  I  pay  my  daily  attendance  on  this  school  of  na 
tional  oratory. 

The  apartments,  in  which  the  representatives  of  the 
American  people  hold  their  assemblies,  are  all  under 
the  same  roof,  and  generally  free  of  admission  ;  per 
fectly  appropriate  and  magnificent ;  and  though  the 
temple  of  republicanism,  not  unworthy  to  be 

Monumenta  regis 
Templaque  Vestae. 

In  no  part  of  the  world  are  there  more  noble  edi 
fices  devoted  to  similar  purposes  ;  and,  compared  to 
that  of  the  American  commons,  St.  Stephen's  cha 
pel,  in  particular,  is  a  most  contemptible  chamber* 
The  hall  of  the  representatives  is  of  spacious  di- 


52 

mensions ;  an  oval,  surrounded  by  twenty-four  Co 
rinthian  pillars,  and  surmounted  by  a  lofty,  painted 
dome,  through  which  the  light  is  admitted  by  a 
hundred  apertures.  The  galleries  and  lobbies,  situ 
ated  behind  the  pillars,  are  large  and  convenient,  fes 
tooned  with  scarlet  drapery,  that  serves  to  prevent  too 
great  a  resonance  of  the  voice,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  give  a  compactness  and  finish  to  the  apartment. 
Over  the  grand  entrance,  there  are  emblematic  bas 
reliefs ;  and,  on  the  opposite  side,  a  statue  of  liber 
ty.  The  furniture,  decorations  and  arrangement,  are 
becoming  and  elegant ;  and  during  a  night  session, 
when  the  hall  is  lighted  by  lamps,  the  whole  effect  is 
fine  and  imposing. 

The  senate  chamber  is  in  the  other  wing  of  the  ca- 
pitol,  which  is  yet  in  quite  an  unfinished  state,  of  a 
smaller  size  than  the  hall  of  the  representatives,  with 
a  double  arched  dome  ;  and  Ionic  pillars,  the  dra 
pery,  hangings  and  carpets,  and  indeed  the  whole 
chamber  finished  in  a  superior  style  of  splendour  and 
brilliancy. 

Under  the  senate  chamber  is  the  hall  of  justice, 
the  ceiling  of  which  is  not  unfancifully  formed  by 
the  arches  that  support  the  former.  The  judges,  in 
their  robes  of  solemn  black,  are  raised  on  seats  of 
grave  mahogany ;  and  below  them  is  the  bar,  sur 
rounded  by  a  Doric  colonnade,  somewhat  elevated 
above  the  bar,  and  behind  that  an  arcade,  still  higher, 
so  contrived  as  to  afford  auditors  double  rows  of 
terrace  seats,  thrown  in  segments  round  the  trans 
verse  arch,  under  which  the  judges  sit. 

c  main  body  of  the  capitol  has  not  been  begun, 


53 

and  all  these  halls  are  in  the  wings.  The  whole  pile, 
when  complete,  will  be  enormous.  The  vestibules, 
stairways,  and  galleries  of  communication,  are  de 
signed  and  executed  with  great  magnificence ; 
though  at  present  they  arc  disfigured  by  scaffolding 
and  patchwork  ;  and  the  three  original  orders  of 
Grecian  architecture  are  displayed  in  the  three  halls,, 
with  perfect  chastness  and  uniformity. 

As  public  speaking  in  all  its  branches,  parliament 
ary,  forensic,  and  of  the  pulpit,  is  exhibited  in  the 
capitol,  and  this  is  really  the  only  public  spectacle  of 
Washington,  I  pass  great  part  of  my  time  there ; 
and  propose  to  give  you  some  account  of  the  state  of 
oratory  in  this  country,  as  contrasted  with  others, 
both  ancient  and  modern,  with  a  sketch  of  some  of 
the  orators,  who  arc  assembled,  from  various  quar 
ters,  in  this  metropolis. 

To  begin  with  the  pulpit :  as  there  are  very  few, 
and  those  very  small,  places  of  public  worship  in 
the  federal  city,  the  representative  hall,  which,  from 
its  spaciousness  and  form,  is  well  adapted  to  such  a 
purpose,  has  been  taken  as  the  theatre  for  ecclesias 
tical  discourses  ;  and  a  scene,  which  wants  no  addi 
tional  interest  from  its  originality,  since  my  residence 
here,  has  been  rendered,  by  the  presence  of  a  cele 
brated  preacher  from  New- York,  peculiarly  striking 
and  memorable.  Figure  to  yourself  a  magnificent 
apartment,  with  no  one  appearance  of  a  church, 
crowded  with  an  audience  consisting  of  all  descrip 
tions  of  persons,  of  both  sexes  and  colours,  promis 
cuously  seated  and  standing  ;  the  galleries,  stairways 
and  entrances  thronged,  and  everv  avenue  surfeited 


54 

with  spectators.  No  choir,  no  preparatory  service 
or  solemnities,  but  a  band  of  soldiers,  with  all  "  the 
pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  war,"  file  in, 
marching  to  a  martial  air,  sounded  by  drums  and 
warlike  instruments,  and  take  their  stations.  Soon 
after  the  clergyman  begins.f 


When  I  went  into  the  court  of  justice  yesterday f 
one  side  of  the  fine  forensic  colonnade  was  occupied 
by  a  party  of  ladies,  who,  after  loitering  some  time 
in  the  gallery  of  the  representatives,  had  sauntered 
into  this  hall,  and  were,  with  their  attendants,  sacri 
ficing  some  impatient  moments  to  the  inscrutable 
mysteries  of  pleading.  On  the  opposite  side  was  a 
group  of  Indians,  who  are  here  on  a  visit  to  the 
president,  (papa  of  the  savages,)  in  their  native  cos 
tume,  their  straight  black  hair  hanging  in  plaits  down 
their  tawny  shoulders,  with  mockassins  on  their  feet, 
rings  in  their  ears  and  noses,  and  large  plates  of  silver 
on  their  arms  and  breasts. 

With  silver  flaming  and  barbaric  gold. 

In  the  center  of  the  peristyle,  stood  a  superannuated 
officer  of  the  American  revolution,  who  passes  his 
few  remaining  winters  in  Washington,  vainly  peti 
tioning  congress  for  "  that  which  should  accompany 
old  age  ;"  his  habit  of  the  "  olden  time,"  edged  with 
tarnished  lace  ;  his  hair  as  white  as  snow ;  his  face 
furrowed,  but  full  of  dignity,  resting  with  one  hand 

t  Here  we  regret  to  say  several  lines  are  scored  out ^. 


on  a  cane,  and  with  the  other  supporting  himself 

against  a  column. 

***** 

Before  this  audience  was  the  bench  of  reverend 
judges,  listening  with  constrained  patience  to  a  ruby- 
faced  spokesman ;  who,  with  his  hair  in  full  powder, 
but  without  any  robe,  which,  like  charity,  might 
have  covered  a  multitude  of  improprieties,  was  chop 
ping  law-logic,  in  a  voice  so  loud  as  to  be  almost 
lost  in  its  own  reverberations.  This  was  the  third 
day  of  his  speech ;  of  which  I  heard  nothing  more 
than  the  peroration.  But  that  was  enough;  for 
though,  as  well  as  I  could  catch  the  subject,  there  was 
a  pervading  strength  of  argument,  and  some  corus 
cations  of  rhetoric,  his  gestures  were  so  vehement, 
countenance  so  angry,  and  his  continual  digressions 
so  entirely  extra  flammantia  mcenia  mundi,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  in  view  both  the  speaker  and  his 
cause ;  and  indeed  before  he  concluded,  I  suffered 
all  the  torments  of  restlessness,  and  a  jaded  attention, 
bewildered  with  vain  efforts  to  sit  still  and  under 
stand. 

***** 

But  it  is  in  the  two  houses  of  congress  that  we 
should  look  for  the  orators  of  America,  selected  as 
the  members  of  those  houses  are,  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  for  their  talents  and  eloquence.  To  a  cer 
tain  degree,  an  ability  for  good  public  speaking  is  very 
common  in  the  United  States.  Natural  fluency, 
characteristic  fire,  and  a  habit  of  public  debating, 
are  almost  universal.  But  there  have  been,  and  there 
are  individuals  elsewhere,  who,  as  their  talents  have 
been  corroborated  by  a  more  complete  education,  and 


56 

matured  under  a  less  distracted  attention,  have  attain 
ed  probably  to  higher  grades  of  distinction  than  any 
of  the  Americans, 


There  are  others  in  congress,  in  whose  orations  the 
smell  of  the  camp  is  more  perceptible  ;  but  none  to 
be  considered  models  of  fine  speaking.  Indeed  to 
adopt  either  the  congress,  or  the  forum  at  Washing 
ton,  as  types  of  the  national  oratory,  would  be  doing 
injustice  to  the  country  ;  for  there  are  at  the  bar,  and 
in  the  provincial  assemblies  of  many  of  the  states,  or 
at  least  there  were,  when  I  formerly  resided  in  Ame 
rica,  men  certainly  superior  to  any  whose  exhibition 
is  confined  to  the  capitol. 

***** 

As  language  is  the  offspring  of  necessity,  so  elo 
quence  is  the  child  of  the  passions,  born  in  the  bosom 
of  liberty,  fostered  by  the  love  of  glory.  In  the 
early  stages  of  society,  a  man  endowed  with  supple 
organs,  a  rich  imagination,  and  an  ardent  soul, 
uniting  a  firm  and  rapid  enunciation  with  striking 
gestures,  and  vehement  intonations  with  pathetic  ac 
cents,  would  surpass,  sometimes  in  great  strokes, 
and  always  in  impression,  an  orator  enlightened  by 
study,  and  disciplined  by  rule.  But  the  scene  is 
changed,  when  society  advances  in  civilization,  when 
manners  become  refined,  ideas  enlarged,  objects  com 
plicated  ;  when  sagacity  rather  than  truth  prevails 
in  debate  ;  when  the  arts  and  sciences,  furnishing  a 
multitude  of  objects  of  comparison,  render  an  au- 

t  We  again  express  our  regret  that  nearly  half  a  sheet  is 
erased  in  this  place,  containing  probably  some  personal  stric 
tures,  not  intended  for  the  public  eye. 


57 

ciience  more  delicate  in  its  sensations,  and  fastidious 

in  its  decisions ;  when  it   comes  armed  with  doubt 
/ 

and  criticism,  rebels  against  conviction,  is  desirous 
of  metaphorical  scintillations,  and  weighs  words  be 
fore  it  weighs  reasons.  Eloquence,  which  was  at 
first  little  more  than  the  gift  of  announcing  thoughts 
with  animation,  without  much  regard  to  their  dress, 
becomes  then  devoted  to  their  decoration.  At  such 
a  time,  in  an  age  of  refinement,  when  the  facilities  of 
printing  render  a  whole  nation  one  and  the  same  au 
dience,  it  is  hazardous  to  give  the  reins  to  inspira 
tion.  Extemporary  eloquence  existed  first  in  Greece, 
where  it  survived  the  fall  of  freedom  and  decay  of 
taste  ;  but  its  genius  changed  with  its  objects,  and  it 
fell  to  the  lot  of  sophists  and  rhetoricians,  who,  wan 
dering  from  place  to  place,  offered  to  declaim  a  given 
time  on  any  given  subject ;  whose  frivolous  and  in 
sipid  talent  has  reappeared  in  the  improvisatoris  of 
modern  Italy. 

Such  sacrifices,  such  self- interment  in  retreat  and 
study,  to  appear  again  after  years  of  immolation, 
masters  of  themselves  and  rulers  of  the  universe,  as 
are  related  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  certainly  sur* 
pass  the  modern  labours  of  preparation.  "  The  fa- 
mous  orators  of  Greece  and  Rome,"  says  Boling- 
broke,*  "  were  the  statesmen  and  ministers  of  those 
commonwealths.  But  eloquence  must  flow  like  a 
stream  that  is  fed  by  an  abundant  spring ;  and  not 
spout  forth  a  little  frothy  water  on  some  gaudy  day* 
and  remain  dry  the  rest  of  the  year." 

*  Bolingb,  Let.  on  the  Spirit  of  Patriotism. 

H 


58 

But  the  ancients,  however  intense  their  study  OP 
their  excellence,  were  only  forensic  and  political  ora 
tors.  That  sublime  species  of  moral  eloquence, 
which  is  universal  and  everlasting,  was  first  intro 
duced  by  the  evangelical  law.*  Cicero  defends  a 
client ;  Demosthenes  combats  an  adversary,  or  en 
deavours  to  light  the  expiring  flame  of  patriotism  in 
a  degenerate  nation.  Their  utmost  efforts  aim  to  ex 
cite  the  passions,  and  their  best  hopes  are  fixed  on 
their  agitation.  But  pulpit  eloquence  seeks  its  ends 
in  sublimer  regions,  wins  by  subduing  the  move 
ments  of  the  soul,  and  secures  the  passions  by  their 
appeasement.  It  requires  neither  the  cabals  of  fac 
tion,  popular  commotions,  nor  extraordinary  crises. 
Its  text  is  God  and  charity,  always  the  same,  always 
inexhaustible.  In  the  bosom  of  peace,  over  the  bier 
of  the  humblest  citizen,  its  themes  are  more  pathetic 
than  the  noblest  political  subjects;  and  no  conjuncture 
of  antiquity  can  parallel  its  ordinary  occasions. 

In  most  countries  of  modern  Europe,  such  is  the 
form  of  government,  as  to  afford  few,  if  any,  op 
portunities  for  senatorial  or  popular  eloquence  ;  which 
is  hardly  known,  except  in  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  The  palm  of  pulpit  and  academic 
oratory,  is  due  decidedly  to  France :  Bourdaloue, 
Flechier  and  Massillon,  have  no  competitors ;  and 
the  gratuitous  harangues  of  Thomas  are  elaborated  to 
a  degree  of  elegance  and  fascination  unequalled  in 
their  kind.  To  the  English  would  be  as  decidedly 
due  the  pre-eminence  in  forensic  and  parliamentary 

*  See  Chateaubriand,  Genie  du  Christ.' 


59 

speaking,  were  it  not  for  the  Americans,  who  are 
their  rivals  in  the  latter,  and  greatly  their  superiors 
in  the  former  species. 

The  English  are  excellent  reasoners,  chaste  wri 
ters,  and  classical  scholars,  but  seldom  fine  speakers, 
A  natural  talent  for  extemporaneous  elocution  does  not 
seem  to  prevail  among  them,  as  it  does  among  the 
Americans.  When  the  form  of  their  government  is  ad 
verted  to,  their  revolutions,  factions,  and  popular  tu 
mults,  and  the  great  number  of  their  writers,  of  the 
first  impression,  on  every  subject,  both  in  poetry  and 
prose,  it  is  matter  for  wonder,  that  so  few  distin 
guished  orators  have  appeared  in  England  ;  and  that 
such  as  have,  were  reserved  for  the  present  age  of 
peace  and  prosperity.  Their  pulpit  is  learned,  di 
dactic,  but  phlegmatic,  and  never  eloquent ;  their 
bar  almost  universally  addicted,  as  Sir  James  Macin 
tosh  has  observed,  to  a  bad  style,  and  ungraceful 
elocution ;  and  in  parliament  a  sober  and  deliberate 
course  of  reasoning  seems  to  be  preferred  to  any  ef 
forts  of  imagination,  or  blandishments  of  rhetoric. 
Till  Chatham's  ascendancy,  there  is  not  one  entitled 
to  the  first  rank  for  the  powers  of  speech.  Since  his 
demise,  the  mantle  of  eloquence  has  been  borne  by 
more  than  in  all  their  preceding  history.  But  now 
again  the  death  of  Pitt  and  Fox  is  succeeded  by  an 
other  interregnum.  Not  but  that  there  are  several 
men  in  both  houses  of  parliament,  of  respectable  ta 
lents  for  public  speaking.  But  there  is  no  orator. 
There  is  no  individual  with  the  acknowledged  pre 
eminence  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero  among  the  an 
cients,  or  Chatham  and  Burke,  or  even  Pitt  and  Fox 


60 

among  themselves ;  no  one  with  the  rank  as  a  mere 
public  speaker,  considered  apart  from  his  merits  as  a 
statesman,  which  Ames  once  held,  or  which  Mr. 
Randolph  now  occupies  in  America.  The  orators  of 
England  will  probably  very  soon  be  reduced,  unless 
new  ones  arise,  to  Chatham  and  Burke,  and,  perhaps, 
Sheridan.  The  few  others  who  were  eminent,  were 
nothing  better  than  adroit  debaters ;  and  the  great 
body  of  their  public  speakers,  in  parliament,  at  the 
bar,  and  from  the  pulpit,  with  great  good  sense,  and 
extensive  acquirements,  are  miserably  deficient  in  all 
the  properties  of  eloquence ;  to  whom  an  audience 
listens,  by  a  sort  of  compulsion,  compounding  with 
a  dry  diction,  an  uncouth  gesticulation,  and  a 
rough  manner,  for  the  acuteness  and  ability  with 
which  they  commonly  manage  their  matter.  Chat 
ham  and  Burke  must  be  admired,  while  the  En 
glish  language  endures.  But  Fox,  though  an  ani 
mated  and  persuasive  reasoner,  was  no  orator :  and 
his  rival  Pitt's  greatest  recommendation  was  the 
bare  merit  of  propriety  :  jus  et  norma  loguendL 

Does  love  of  the  land  of  my  forefathers  deceive 
me  when  I  think  that  Ireland,  manacled  and  chained 
as  she  is,  has  produced  some  of  the  finest  orators  of 
the  age.  It  was  in  Ireland  Burke  and  Sheridan  lisped 
the  first  of  those  numbers,  that  were  afterwards  mo 
dulated  on  the  greater  but  less  harmonious  sphere 
of  England.  It  is  in  Ireland  that  Curran  and  Grat- 
tan  shine.  It  is  there  that  a  constitutional  mercu- 
rialism  and  frankness,  beating  against  the  shackles 
of  domination,  have  struck  out  some  of  the  finest 
flashes  of  an  eloquence,  sublime  and  pathetic,  spon- 


61 

taneous,    perhaps    irregular,   but    exuberant,    gor 
geous,  intense  and  irresistible. 

I  will  not  say  the  Americans  have  exhibited  a 
Chatham  or  a  Burke.  I  think  their  most  excellent 
speakers  want  the  finish  of  oratory.  But  the  nation 
appears  to  me  to  enjoy  a  greater  aptitude  for  public 
speaking,  more  generally  diffused,  and  more  fre 
quently  displayed  in  flights  of  bold,  nervous,  and 
sometimes  beautiful  eloquence,  than  any  other  what 
ever.  In  their  public  bodies,  congress,  the  state 
assemblies,  the  bar  of  the  several  states,  and  their 
numerous  political,  and  academic  associations,  there  is 
a  much  greater  number  of  agreeable  speakers,  than  in 
the  similar  assemblies  of  Great  Britain,  with  whom, 
from  the  identity  of  language  and  similarity  in  other 
respects,  it  seems  most  natural  to  compare  them. 
There  is  no  modern  people,  among  whom  the  op 
portunities  of  oratory  are  so  numerous  ;  or  the  in 
citements  to  oratorical  excellence  so  strong.  In 
such  a  republic  as  that  of  the  American  states,  an 
orator  may  be  a  perpetual  dictator,  for  reasons  very 
different  from  those  which  produced  the  same  effect  in 
the  ancient  commonwealths.  In  them  the  populace 
were  moved,  through  their  ignorance ;  here  the  peo 
ple  may  be  roused  through  their  universal  intelligence. 
A  fertile  and  solid  memory ;  not  that  which  retains 
words,  but  in  which  ideas  are  classed,  as  it  were,  in 
a  great  repository,  waiting  the  orders  of  the  judg 
ment  ;  a  rapid  conception,  which  unites,  while  it 
conceives  ideas ;  an  intrepid  and  hardy  logic,  which 
seizes  analogies,  without  the  process  of  comparison 
or  deduction  ;  a  courage  irritated  rather  than  abated 


62 

by  interruptions  and  difficulties ;  a  happy  facility  to 
feel,  and  yet  to  restrain  the  feelings,  for  passion, 
which  sometimes  obscures  the  intelligence,  always 
fertilizes,  when  it  does  not  disorder ;  a  mind  enlar 
ged  by  study,  fortified  by  meditation,  habituated  by 
writing  to  the  concentration  of  thought,  and  rectitude 
of  expression ;  consummated  in  any  individual  of 
this  country,  would  place  its  destinies  at  his  disposal. 


LETTER  VI. 

FROM  INCHIQUIN. 

Dated  at  Washington. 

THE  inauguration  of  the  new  president  took 
place  yesterday,  when  I  was  prevented  witnessing  the 
ceremony  by  a  cold,  which  confines  me  to  my  cham 
ber.  With  this  letter  I  have  forwarded  a  newspaper, 
containing  an  account  of  what  little  ceremonial  there 
was  on  the  occasion,  which  I  accompany  with  a 
sketch  of  the  characters  of  the  American  presi 
dents. 

Of  Washington  what  shall  be  said?  Panegyric 
cannot  be  exhausted  on  his  name.  The  sovereignty 
of  his  country  was  asserted  by  his  energy,  and  se 
cured  by  his  moderation.  His  military  successes 
were  more  solid  than  brilliant,  brilliant  as  they  were ; 
and  judgment,  rather  than  enthusiasm,  regulated  his 
conduct  in  battle.  In  the  midst  of  the  inevitable  disor 
ders  of  camps,  and  the  excesses  inseparable  from  a  civil 
war,  humanity  always  found  refuge  in  his  tent.  In  the 
morning  of  triumph,  and  in  the  darkness  of  adversity, 
he  was  alike  serene;  at  all  times  tranquil  as  wisdom, 
and  simple  as  virtue.  After  the  acknowledgment  of 
American  independence,  when  the  unanimous  suf 
frage  of  a  free  people  railed  him  to  administer  their 


64 

government,  his  administration,  partaking  of  his  cha 
racter,  was  mild  and  firm  at  home,  noble  and  pru 
dent  abroad.     Born  to  opulence,  he  had  nobly  in 
creased  his  patrimony,  like  the  early  heroes  of  Rome, 
by  the  labours  of  agriculture  :  and  though  an  enemy 
to  vain  parade,  he  wished  to  environ  the  manners  of 
republicanism  with  a  becoming  dignity.    His  well 
regulated  mind  repulsed  every  species  of  extrava 
gance.    No  one  of  his  fellow-citizens  loved  liberty 
more  ardently ;   but  no  one  heard,  with  a  stronger 
repugnance,  the  exaggerations  of  demagogues.  In  all 
his  negot^tions  the  heroic  simplicity  of  the  American 
president   dealt,    without   vainglory   or   abasement, 
with  the  majesty  of  kings.    His  were  not  the  fierce 
and  imposing  features  which  strike  all  minds ;   but 
order  and  justice,  truth,  and  above  all,  good  sense, 
were  his  characteristics:    good  sense,  a  quality  as 
rare  as  it  is  useful,  and  as  useful  in  public  stations  as 
in  private  life.     Genius  elevates,  boldness  destroys ; 
good  sense  preserves  and  perfects.  Genius  is  charged 
with  the  glory  of  empires ;  but  good  sense  alone  can 
assure  their  repose  and  duration.     When  Washing 
ton  saw  his  country  raised,  in  great  measure  by  his 
personal  influence,  from  distraction  and  despondency, 
to  an  honourable  rank  among  independent  nations, 
actuated  by  neither  fear  nor  ambition,  but  desirous 
of  enjoying  in  private  the  tranquillity  he  so  greatly 
contributed  to  affirm,  he  retired  from  the  presidency, 
to  live  and  die  a  private  citizen,  when  he  might  have 
been  monarch  of  the  West.    But  though  he  relin 
quished  the  first  place,  the  first  name  in  America 


65 

continued  and  ever  will  be  Washington.  There  are 
prodigious  men,  who  appear  at  intervals,  with  the 
character  of  greatness  and  domination.  An  unknown, 
supernatural  cause  sends  them  forth,  when  required, 
to  found,  or  repair  the  ruins  of  empires.  In  vain 
do  such  men  keep  aloof,  or  mix  with  the  crowd  ; 
the  hand  of  fortune  raises  them  suddenly,  and  they 
are  borne  from  obstacle  over  obstacle,  from  triumph 
through  triumph,  to  the  summit  of  authority.  Inspi 
ration  animates  their  thoughts  ;  an  irresistible  move 
ment  is  given  to  their  enterprises.  The  multitude 
looks  for  them  in  itself,  but  finds  them  not*  and  lift 
ing  up  its  eyes,  they  are  beheld  in  a  sphere  resplen 
dent  with  light  and  glory.  No  monarch  on  his 
throne  was  ever  so  great  as  Washington  in  his  re 
tirement.  No  founder  of  an  empire  had  the  same 
pretensions,  looking  around  on  the  national  power 
and  prosperity  he  had  created,  to  exclaim,  Hte  sunt 

imagines,  h&c  nobilitas,  non  hercditate  relicta,  sed 

ego  plurimis  labor  ibus  ct  pcriculis 


*  The  ancients  would  have  deified  such  an  individual  as 
Washington,  and  transmitted  his  name,  thus  rendered  sa 
cred,  to  the  veneration  ot"  posterity.  No  political  improve 
ments  or  national  institutions,  no  course  of  policy,  no  mere 
system,  however  excellent,  can  tend  so  much  to  make  a  na 
tion  happy  and  great,  as  the  disinterested  exertions  of  indi 
viduals,  exalted  by  their  superior  talents  and  virtue.  It  ought 
to  be  one  of  the  first  objects  of  a  republican  people  to  en 
shrine  the  characters  of  those  men,  to  whom  their  prosperity 
may  be  even  in  part  ascribed,  and  with  whose  names  their 
national  character  will  be  associated.  Some  of  the  ablest 
statesmen  and  historians  have  pronounced  their  judgments 

T 


66 

The  two  succeeding  presidents  have  also  already 
passed  away  politically,  each  of  them  with  claims 
much  urged,  and  much  contested,  to  applause.  From 
a  long  residence  in  the  United  States,  and  an  inti 
mate  observation  of  their  principal  men,  manners 
and  institutions,  I  hope  I  have  collected  the  means 
for  appreciating  them  justly,  without  imbibing  the 
poison  of  their  factions  and  personalities  :  And  I 
shall  endeavour  to  delineate  them,  as  if  they  were 
no  more,  without  bias  or  prejudice. 

Perisse  a  jamais  1'affreuse  politique, 

Qui  pretend  sur  les  coeurs  un  pouvoir  despotique. 

The  void  left  by  Washington  it  was  impossible 
to  fill ;  and  Mr.  Adams,  whose  misfortune  it  was  to 
succeed  him,  proximns,  sed  longo  intervallo,  never 

for  men  in  preference  to  measures.  Sallust,  a  warm  admirer 
of  popular  governments,  and  certainly  enlisted  on  the  popular 
side,  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  Roman  greatness,  thus  ex 
presses  his  opinion  :  Mihi,  mult  a  agitanti,  constabat  pauco- 
nun  civium  egregiam  -uirtutem  cuncta  patravisse  ;  eocjue  fac- 
tum  uti  di~uitias  fiau/iertasj  multitudinem  paucitas  sufieraret. 
Sal.  de  Cat.  s.  54.  //  ne  s'cst  presque  jamais^  says  Voltaire, 
rienfait  de  grand  dans  le  monde  que  par  le  genie  et  la  fermete 
d'un  sen!  homme,  qui  lutte  contre  les  Jirejugcs  de  la  multitude. 
Es.  sur  les  Meeurs.  And  the  'late  Mr.  Fox  expresses  a  simi 
lar  sentiment  in  still  stronger  terms.  "  How  vain,"  says  he, 
"  how  idle,  how  presumptuous  is  the  opinion,  that  laws  can 
do  every  thing  !  And  how  weak  and  pernicious  the  maxim 
founded  upon  it,  that  measures,  not  men,  are  to  be  attended 
to."  Hist,  of  James  II.  Introd.  p.  14.  So  too  the  philosophi* 


67 

entered  the  mind  in  comparison  with  his  predecessor. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  revolution,  Mr.  Adams 
stood  forth  a  zealous,  resolute  and  useful  patriot; 
and  though  his  services  were  confined  to  the  civil  de 
partments,  they  were  nevertheless  steady,  well  direct 
ed  and  important.  Being  afterwards  vice-president 
under  Washington,  of  acknowledged  abilities  and  ir 
reproachable  reputation,  having  had  the  honour  of  re- 
presenting  his  country  in  Europe  on  several  momen 
tous  missions,  and  being  an  individual  of  preponde 
rating  influence  in  the  States  of  New-England,  the 
presidency  devolved  upon  him  after  Washington's 
retirement,  as  it  were,  rather  as  a  matter  of  routine 
and  reward,  than  on  account  of  his  superior  fitness 
for  the  situation.  No  man  can  be  great,  who  is  not 
greater  than  his  fortune ;  nor  does  any  weakness 
more  deservedly  incur  contempt  than  the  intoxica 
tion  of  success.  Elated  by  his  election,  Mr.  Adams 
lost  the  equanimity,  which  was,  perhaps,  the  first  re 
quisite  for  his  place.  Wanting,  besides,  the  personal 
weight  that  a  president  should  possess,  when  the 
impulse  that  carried  him  into  office  subsided,  as  it 
soon  did  with  the  infatuation  that  followed,  it  be- 
came  evident,  that  neither  himself,  his  cabinet,  nor 
the  people,  were  under  his  government,  and  that  his 
short-lived  power  was  on  the  wane.  A  considerable 
section  of  his  own  party  were  his  opponents  ;  among 
whom  the  most  conspicuous  and  influential  was  Ge- 

sing  poet,  dilating  indeed  the  sentiment  with  a  poet's  license, 
exclaims, 

Of  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest ; 
That  which  is  best  administered  is  best. 


68 

neral  Hamilton,  a  man  of  splendid  and  versatile  ta 
lents,  of  a  romantic  temper  and  noble  sense  of  ho 
nour,  but  imprudent,  and  hating  and  despising  the 
president.  On  the  other  hand,  his  antagonists  were 
managed  by  a  leader  of  consummate  skill,  in  whom 
the  whole  opposition  reposed  implicit  confidence, 
and  who  was  every  way  superior  to  Mr.  Adams  in 
the  arts  of  popularity.  He  suffered  moreover  from 
comparisons  with  Washington.  Of  a  grand  and 
graceful  person,  reserved,  august  and  commanding, 
the  latter  knew  how  to  be  gracious  without  relaxing 
his  native  dignity,  and  to  maintain  an  elevated  offi 
cial  rank  without  the  guards  or  glare  of  royalty.  But 
Mr.  Adams  had  none  of  these  advantages.  His  pre 
sence  was  neither  graceful  nor  imposing ;  and  his 
manners  were  sometimes  abrupt  and  repulsive.  Thus 
deficient  in  some  of  the  qualifications  for  command, 
though  he  undoubtedly  enjoyed  many  others,  thwarted 
in  his  own  party,  and  opposed  by  a  skilful  adversary, 
he  proved  unequal  for  the  task,  and  was  superseded 
on  the  expiration  of  the  first  term  for  wrhich  he  was 
chosen.  He  had  indeed  to  contend  with  no  inconsi 
derable  difficulties,  and  the  tide  of  popular  opinion 
was  setting  strong  enough  perhaps  to  have  carried 
him  off,  without  any  demerits  of  his  own. 

But  Mr.  Adams  can  hardly  be  accounted  a  man  of 
the  first  stamp.  Integrity,  industry,  experience  and 
extensive  information,  qualifications  of  the  first  im 
pression  for  public  places,  he  certainly  possessed ; 
and  had  he  been  content  to  move  in  a  sphere  for 
which  he  was  fitted,  elevated  but  not  the  most 


69 

elevated,  he  might  have  lived  prosperously,  and 
died  with  an  enviable  reputation.  But  seduced 
into  regions  where  he  was  incapable  of  shining, 
he  began  to  decline  almost  as  soon  as  he  trespass 
ed  on  them.  Towards  the  close  of  his  period, 
when  the  manifestations  of  dissatisfaction  began  to 
be  alarming,  it  was  said  he  made  unbecoming  sa 
crifices  to  propitiate  popularity,  which  served  only 
to  multiply  his  enemies,  and  hasten  and  confirm  his 
fall.  In  the  administration  of  governments  there  not 
unfrequently  occurs  a  dilemma,  where  it  is  extreme 
ly  perplexing  to  determine  whether  to  advance  or  re 
cede.  But  there  probably  never  was  an  exigency  of 
this  sort,  when  a  time-serving  abandonment  was  not 
more  hazardous  than  an  independent  perseverance  in 
the  unpopular  measures. 

In  the  relations  of  private  life,  Mr.  Adams  was  al 
ways  amiable  and  exemplary  ;  affectionate  in  his  fa 
mily;  steady  and  ingenuous  in  his  friendships; 
punctilious  in  the  observance  of  his  engagements ; 
of  religious  habits,  and  few,  if  any  vices ;  incapable 
of  intrigue,  and  deficient  even  in  that  address,  which 
is  often  so  necessary,  and  seldom  amiss,  in  a  person 
called  to  act  a  distinguished  part.  His  love  of  coun 
try  was  ardent  and  high-toned.  He  had  knowledge, 
but  more  of  books  than  men.  He  had  seen  a  great 
routine  of  public  business;  but  his  acquirements 
were  not  practical.  Vanity  was  his  predominant  fail 
ing;  and  though  his  judgment  was  in  general  good, 
a  sort  of  imbecility  hung  about  it,  like  ivy  round  an 
oak,  affecting  all  the  measures  of  his  administration. 


70 


As  Madame  de  Sevigne  says  of  one  of  her  friends^ 
his  good  and  bad  qualities  were  mixed  up  pell-mell 
together ;  and  these  never  could  answer  their  design 
without  more  or  less  thwarting  from  the  others. 

Yet  his  administration  was  more  unfortunate  for 
himself  and  his  party,  than  for  his  country :  not  so 
ill  advised,  as  unsteadily  executed,  ending  as  much 
too  low  as  it  began  too  high.  As  his  career  was  un 
successful,  his  annals  are  obscured  ;  and  indeed  it 
may  be  doubted,  whether  his  party,  as  such,  will 
ever  recover  the  defeat  they  sustained  under  his 
auspices.  But  he  must  always  feel  the  consolation 
of  having  been  governed  by  principles,  the  least 
worthy  of  which  was  nothing  worse  than  ambition  ; 
a  fault,  which  one  of  the  most  celebrated  ancient 
writers  and  politicians  designates  as  vitium  propius 
virtuti,  the  vice  nearest  to  virtue.  If,  as  has  been 
thought,  the  aggrandizement  of  his  own  family  was 
his  favourite  object,  he  at  least  associated  their  ex 
altation  with  that  of  his  country  ;  and  as  a  great  poet 
has  said, 

When  men  aspire, 
"Tis  but  a  spark  too  much  of  heavenly  fire. 

It  is  supposed  Mr.  Adams  is  relieving  his  leisure 
by  composing  his  own  memoirs ;  a  donation  which 
all  unfortunate  statesmen,  who  survive  their  power, 
owe  to  themselves,  and  all  such  as  are  fortunate  to 
their  country. 

The    political  demise  of  president   Adams   was 

succeeded  by  a  crisis  that  threatened  to  prove  fatal 
Q 


71 

to  the  American  union ;  and  which,  though  not 
strictly  incidental  to  my  present  subject,  I  cannot 
omit,  inasmuch  as  it  tends  to  show  the  inconsiderable 
effects  of  an  ill-regulated  ambition,  though  exerted 
by  an  individual  of  rank  and  talents,  upon  the  spirit 
and  institutions  of  the  American  people.  One  of  the 
two  parties,  who  contested  the  presidency,  gave  their 
votes  for  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Colonel  Burr,  as  president 
and  vice-president,  but  without  designating  which 
was  intended  for  the  one  office,  and  which  for  the 
other.  Burr  was  a  man  of  unquestioned  abilities, 
but  unbounded  ambition.  Brave,  insinuating,  mu 
nificent  and  artful,  fond  of  pleasure,  but  fonder  of 
glory  ;  accessible,  affable  and  eloquent;  like  Rienzi 
and  some  other  eminent  demagogues,  studious  and 
laborious  ;  calm  in  success,  undismayed  at  reverses; 
poor,  in  debt,  subtle,  popular  and  intriguing.  It  was 
well  known  that  his  party  did  not  intend  him  for  the 
chief  magistracy.  But  the  confusion  of  suffrages 
placed  that  dazzling  object  within  his  reach  ;  and, 
unable  to  resist  the  temptation,  he  tampered  with 
the  other  party,  in  hopes  of  attaining  it  by  their 
voices.  Like  most  double  dealers,  he  wanted  reso 
lution  to  go  all  lengths;  and  the  intrigue  failed, 
when,  had  he  exercised  the  same  influence  that  the 
Vatican  and  all  elective  monarchies  have  so  often 
witnessed,  in  all  probability  he  might  have  been 
raised  to  the  chair.  What  effect  such  a  result  would 
have  had  on  the  federation,  it  is  not  now  necessary  to 
imagine.  After  a  violent  and  doubtful  conclave,  Mr. 
Jefferson  was  elected  president,  and  Colonel  Burr, 


72 

though  appointed  vice-president,  (which  place  he 
filled  with  unrivalled  dignity  and  intelligence,)  lost 
the  countenance  of  his  own  party,  without  having 
ingratiated  himself  with  the  other ;  and  at  the  expi 
ration  of  his  four  years,  notwithstanding  many  strug 
gles,  was  abandoned  by  both  parties.  Thus  stripped 
of  his  rank  and  emoluments,  at  a  moment  when  his 
affairs  were  involved,  and  his  lust  of  power  unap 
peasable,  mala  res,  spes  multo  asperior,  and  being 
exiled  from  his  State  in  consequence  of  killing  Ge 
neral  Hamilton  in  a  duel,  he  plunged  at  last  into  a 
conspiracy  for  invading  the  Spanish  provinces,  or 
severing  the  American  States,  or  some  other  such 
impracticable  project,  which  he  was  so  infatuated  as 
to  imagine  would  raise  him  to  an  eminence,  from 
whence  he  might  look  down  on  his  reverses  and  ene 
mies.  Whatever  this  mysterious  scheme  was,  it  was 
so  badly  either  planned  or  executed,  as  never  to  be 
come  sufficiently  obnoxious  to  the  law;  and  was 
traced,  detected  and  crushed  by  president  Jefferson 
with  triumphant  facility.  Since  this  series  of  disas 
ters,  in  which  Burr  has  been  implicated,  many  have 
supposed  that  he  never  could  have  possessed  the 
vigorous  understanding  and  character,  generally  at 
tributed  to  him.  But  his  conspicuousness  was  too 
long  perceived,  and  too  extensively,  to  be  decep 
tive  :  and  he  is  rather  to  be  viewed  as  an  instance 
of  the  degradation  consequent  upon  misapplied  ta 
lents.  His  country  lost  in  him  a  citizen  of  mascu 
line  and  aspiring  spirit,  of  infinite  address  and  ex 
cellent  acquirements,  who,  had  he  succeeded,  might 


73 

have  been  the  American  Cassar ;  but  as  he  failed  is 
hardly  entitled  to  the  infamous  celebrity  of  Cati 
line. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  to  whom  the  reins  were  thus  com 
mitted,  was  always  a  leader ;  and  in  fact  was  largely 
instrumental  in  creating  the  party  to  which  he  be 
longed.  Under  a  gradual  accumulation  of  fresh 
points  of  controversy,  he  maintained  this  post  with 
pre-eminent  ability  and  ultimate  success ;  and  never 
left  it  till  he  had  accomplished  the  extremest  trials 
of  the  politics  to  which  his  life  was  devoted.  While 
out  of  place  his  opposition  was  incessant  and  per 
vading  ;  and  when  invested  with  power  to  exercise 
the  principles  he  professed,  his  practice  showed  how 
much  he  was  in  earnest  in  his  professions.  He  made 
his  way  to  the  executive  magistracy  through  clouds 
of  imputations  and  every  sort  of  obstacle.  When 
within  reach  of  his  grand  object,  when  the  beams  of 
authority  began  already  to  play  on  his  brows,  he  had 
nearly  been  dashed  from  it  by  the  management  of 
Burr  and  his  adversaries.  Yet  he  entered  on  his  of 
fice  with  the  utmost  apparent  serenity.  While  the 
axe  of  innovation  thundered  from  his  strokes,  oblivion 
and  conciliation  were  on  his  lips.  His  antagonists 
dwindled  in  number  as  they  became  more  inveterate. 
His  partisans  increased  in  number  and  devotion ; 
and  though  the  opposition  loaded  him  with  charges 
of  the  foulest  dye,  his  influence  augmented  every 
day,  and  seemed  to  brighten  under  corrosion.  Whe 
ther  the  gallantries  and  other  irregularities  of  which 
he  was  accused,  were  founded,  it  is  not  easy  to  de 

K 


74 

cidc,  as  he  had  the  magnanimity  or  the  policy  never 
to  notice  or  contradict  such  accusations.  If,  as  was 
said,  he  wanted  personal  resolution,  he  certainly  did 
not  want  political  firmness,  which  he  evinced  on 
many  occasions.  Though  supple,  he  could  be  in 
flexible  ;  and  though  wary,  he  was  determined.  If 
he  stooped  to  unworthy  acts  for  popularity,  he  had 
at  least  the  justification  that  arises  from  success  ;  for 
probably  no  individual,  without  force,  ever  was  en 
throned  in  so  predominant  a  personal  influence.  If 
Jefferson  was  the  idolater,  he  was  also  the  idol,  of 
the  people ;  and  even  Washington,  though  more  re  - 
vered,  was  not  always  more  popular. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  man  of  an  original  cast  of 
mind — a  freethinker  on  all  subjects.  With  abun 
dant  experience  in  diplomacy  and  politics,  he  was  a 
master  in  intrigue.  Though  commonly  too  much 
governed  by  events,  his  system  was  nevertheless  well 
settled;  his  mind  penetrating,  his  judgment  clear, 
and  he  looked  into  events  deep  and  dispassionately. 
His  enemies  will  not  allow  him  to  be  any  thing  but  a 
philosopher :  his  friends  extol  him  as  a  sage.  The 
tempestuous  sea  of  liberty  was  his  proper  element, 
on  which  he  ventured  to  a  dangerous  latitude,  but 
without  at  least  any  personal  misfortune.  His  man 
ners  were  easy,  though  not  elegant,  his  address  un 
assuming  and  agreeable.  His  colloquial  talents  were 
considerable,  and  he  understood  perfectly  the  art  of 
managing  an  unwieldy  majority  of  the  representa 
tives — an  art,  without  which  a  president  of  the  Uni- 
cd  States  will  always  be  a  cypher.  He  lived  in  one 
corner  of  a  half  finished,  half  furnished  palace,  plain 


even  to  peculiarity  in  his  appearance  and  establish 
ment,  accessible  to  every  body  at  all  times,  affecting 
the  utmost  republican  simplicity,  and  as  carefully 
subversive  of  common  forms,  as  most  men  in  his 
situation  would  have  been  carefully  observant  of  them. 
His  conversation  was  free,  his  entertainments  socia 
ble  ;  and  though  all  ostentation  was  avoided,  it  is 
said  few  men  understood  the  elegant  arts  of  society 
better  than  he  did.  He  was  well  read  in  books,  bur 
better  in  mankind.  Geography  and  natural  philosophy 
were  his  favourite  studies:  and  being  industrious,  tem 
perate  and  methodical,  he  never  wanted  leisure  for 
these  pursuits,  notwithstanding  numerous  official 
avocations,  a  most  extensive  correspondence,  and  the 
distractions  of  a  perpetual  liability  to  unceremonious 
visits.  But  though  geography  and  natural  history 
are  beholden  to  his  researches  and  patronage,  politics 
at  last  swallowed  up  all  his  ideas.  As  respected  erno  - 
lument  and  power  he  was  moderate  and  disinterested. 
His  conduct  towards  individuals,  however,  was  too 
often  marked  by  vindictiveness  and  duplicity,  and 
the  statesman  frequently  sunk  in  the  politician.  As 
sagacity  was  his  strongest  talent,  insincerity  was 
his  most  prominent  defect.  When  he  might  have 
been  re-elected  president,  he  retired  to  his  farm  :  and 
whatever  were  his  motives  to  this  resignation,  it  cer 
tainly  was  in  conformity  with  the  principles  he  had 
always  professed,  and  an  example  that  may  be  wor 
thy  of  imitation  by  many  of  his  successors. 

His  policy  was  extremely  republican  and  imper- 
turbably  pacific.  Whatever  may  be  the  permanent 
effect  of  his  measures  on  the  welfare  of  America, 


76 

and  whatever  may  have  been  their  immediate  effect 
on  the  spirit  and    character  of  the  American  people, 
they  were  at  any  rate  systematic  and  original.     If  they 
were  experiments,  they  were  tried  on  a  great  scale, 
and  peace  was  their  end.     It  seemed  to  be  his  am 
bition,  and  the  invariable  aim  of  his  policy,  to  prove 
to  the  world  that  wars  are  not  necessary  to  the  pre 
servation  of  peace,  that  a  republican  polity   is  sus 
ceptible  of  the  utmost  freedom  without  anarchy,  and 
of  combining  with  excessive  liberty  the  utmost  ex 
ecutive  vigour,  without  incurring  a  despotism.     For 
seven  years  of  his  administration,  all  his  efforts  ap 
peared  to  aim  at  the  diminution  of  his  own  authority, 
and  the  reduction  of  government,  which  he  effected  to 
such  a  degree,  as  to  leave  the  people  at  last  almost  with 
out  any  sensation  of  it.     He  had  no  talents  for  war, 
no  pretensions  to  military  fame.     For  the  trophies  of 
peace  he  contended,  and  withdrew  before  they  could 
fade  on  his  brow.     His  administration  was  original , 
pacific  and  mostly  prosperous.     It  remains  for  a  few 
years  to  come  to  pass  judgment  on  its  wisdom.  Proba 
bly  it  will  be  least  appro ved  where  he  seemed  anxious 
it  should  be  most,  in  its  rudest  democratic  features ; 
inasmuch  as  all  extremes  endanger  the  system  they  are 
intended  to  improve.     The  reign  of  Numa,  the  ad- 
rministration  of  Cardinal  Fleury,  and  most  other  seras 
of  extraordinary  peace  have  been  succeeded  by  de. 
structive  wars.     Time  will  show  whether  this  first  of 
national  blessings  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Jefferson  at 
too  dear  a  price. 

A  desire  to  serve  their  country  according  to  the 
best  of  their  respective  abilities,  is  almost  the  only 


77 

point  of  resemblance  between  the  presidents  Adams 
and  Jefferson,  once  political  rivals,  now  political 
shades.  When  a  little  time  shall  have  softened  the 
asperity  of  faction,  it  is  probable  that  the  imbecility 
imputed  to  the  one,  and  the  hypocrisy  charged  to  the 
other,  will  be  in  a  great  measure  forgotten,  and  the 
patriotism  of  both  be  generally  acknowledged.  Mr. 
Jefferson's  character  and  administration  each  present 
a  larger  field  than  those  of  Mr.  Adams.  They  were 
more  original  and  better  sustained.  Mr.  Jefferson's 
nature  was  enthusiastic,  but  equable  ;  Mr.  Adams's 
dryer,  but  subject  to  gusts  of  temper.  The  one  was 
visionary,  but  never  capricious:  the  other  resolute, 
but  unstable.  The  deportment  Mr.  Adams  affected 
was  difficult  and  invidious  ;  Mr.  Jefferson's  familiar 
and  popular.  But  the  former  was  becoming,  though 
it  failed ;  and  the  latter  too  often  contemptible, 
though  it  succeeded.  When  the  Spanish  ambassa 
dors  found  the  Dutch  deputies  squatting  on  the 
ground,  eating  herrings  with  their  fingers,  one  of  their 
first  impressions  must  have  been  disgust  at  the  un 
seemliness  of  this  republican  festival ;  and  the  sen 
timent  of  every  mind  favourable  to  republicanism,  a^ 
reading  the  account  of  this  occurrence,  which  histo 
rians  have  taken  care  to  set  forth  in  all  its  particulars, 
must  be  a  sentiment  of  contempt  for  so  paltry  an  af 
fectation  of  republican  simplicity. 

Jefferson's  life  was  one  continued  course  of  ex- 
perimental  republicanism,  conceived  and  executed 
on  so  large  a  scale,  that  it  must  benefit  or  injure  ex 
tensively.  Whereas  Adams  did  little  or  no  injury  to 
his  country,  though  he  lost  himself  and  dismembered 


78 

his  party.  His  was  a  stormy  course,  now  dazzling, 
now  overcast,  shortlived,  and  setting  in  discomfiture 
-and  obscurity.  After  an  eccentric,  but,  successful 
career,  Jefferson  retired  powerful,  if  not  serene  ;  and 
though  partially  shorn  of  his  beams,  yet  leaving 
the  national  horizon,  even  after  his  departure,  marked 
\vith  the  radiance  of  his  influence.  His  defects  arc 
concealed  in  the  glare  of  his  success.  Mr.  Adams's 
virtues  obscured  in  the  gloom  of  his  fall. 

A  firm,  but  temperate  adherence  to  the  neutral 
policy,  which  Washington  practised  and  recommend 
ed,  would  perhaps  have  maintained  the  first  in  the 
presidency.  A  more  manly  assertion  of  that  policy, 
a  less  excursive  departure  from  the  established  usages 
of  government,  and  a  less  extravagant  experiment  of 
the  elasticity  of  republicanism,  would  have  rendered 
the  latter 's  administration  more  permanently  useful. 
They  wandered  both,  particularly  Jefferson,  into  ex 
tremes,  forgetting  that  politics  have  their  ascertained 
centre,  to  which,  after  all  eccentricities,  they  invaria 
bly  must  gravitate,  and  where  alone  they  rest  in 
security. 

As  Mr.  Madison  has  but  just  entered  on  the  chief 
magistracy,  his  probation  is  to  come,  and  his  estimate 
can  be  conjectured  only.  The  crisis  is  big  with 
peril  and  uncertainty.  The  civilized  world  has  been 
shaken  from  its  ancient  bases,  by  tremendous  con 
cussions,  which  the  United  States  of  America  have 
felt  but  in  their  remote  vibrations.  Mr.  Madison 
having  distinguished  himself  as  an  accomplished 
speaker,  and  an  able  writer,  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  he  will  prove  himself  an  enlightened  executive 


79 

statesman.  To  remove  foreign  embarrassments  and 
provide  against  aggressions,  to  conciliate  the  feuds 
of  faction,  to  concentrate  without  consolidating  a 
federal  republican  empire,  to  establish  and  maintain 
a  national  character  for  patriotism  and  probity,  to 
encourage  internal  improvements,  the  arts  and  sci 
ences,  with  imperial  munificence,  to  guard  fiscal  dis 
bursements  with  an  honest  economy,  to  cultivate 
peace,  and  prepare  for  war,  are  the  great  duties  he 
has  undertaken — duties,  whose  accomplishment  his 
country  expects  from  his  zeal,  moderation  and 
abilities. 


LETTER  VII. 

FROM  INCHIQUIN, 

Dated  at  Washington, 

THOUGH  the  literature  of  this  country  seems  to- 
have  incurred  the  scorn  of  Europe,  there  certainly 
are  two  works,  which  as  literary  compositions  on 
national  subjects,  are  at  least  comparable,  if  not  su 
perior  to  any  that  have  appeared  in  Europe  since  the 
independence  of  the  United  States :  I  mean  Mr* 
Barlow's  epic  and  Mr.  Marshall's  history  ;  of  which, 
as  they  have  been  grossly  misrepresented  by  what 
are  called  the  critics  of  Europe,  I  propose,  in  this 
letter,  to  take  a  transient  review. 

To  begin  with  the  Columbiad,  of  which  the 
American  press  has  just  put  forth  a  splendid  edition, 
ornamented  with  rich  engravings,  and  executed  al 
together  in  such  a  style  as  to  place  it  decidedly  at 
the  head  of  American  typography.  The  poet  with 
a  venial,  if  not  a  laudable  partiality,  has  himself  con 
tributed  large  sums  from  his  private  fortune  to  the 
embellishment  of  this  work,  which  does  great  honour 
to  its  author  and  his  country  ;  yet  I  cannot  help  re  - 
gretting  that  so  excellent,  dispassionate  and  benevo 
lent  a  writer  did  not  bestow  the  time,  talents  and 


81 

expense  appropriated  to  poetry,  on  some  theme  bet 
ter  suited  to  his  genius,  and  which  might  have  been 
more  extensively  useful.  Mr.  Barlow  is  yet  only  a 
living  poet,  and  fame  seldom  gives  the  whole  scope 
of  her  clarion  but  to  the  dead.  He  has  every  reason 
to  be  satisfied  with  his  literary  rank ;  though  his 
pen  is  probably  capable  of  productions  superior  to 
the  Columbiad. 

Poetry  is  so  much  the  language  of  nature,  that 
almost  every  youth  of  any  fancy  ventures  a  flight  into 
its  realms ; 

Tentavit  in  dulci  jtiventa 
Fervor,  et  in  celeres  lambos 
Misit  furentem. 

but  so  exclusively  the  prerogative  of  a  peculiar 
genius,  that  from  the  age  of  Miriam  down  to  these  un- 
harmonious  days,  the  number  of  its  elect  is  extremely 
precious.  4t  Many  have  been  called  but  few  chosen." 
The  facilities  of  printing  have  added  to  the  number 
of  poets,  without  improving  their  melody  or  sub 
limity.  Smoothness  of  numbers,  regularity  of  mea 
sure,  skilfuiness  in  short  in  the  business  of  rhyming, 
are  more  common  since  the  invention  of  types  :  but 
\vhen  we  see  all  these  prerequisites  so  frequently  com 
bined  without  creating  a  captivating  or  lasting  poem, 
the  inference  is  so  much  the  stronger  that  genuine 
poetry  is  the  offspring  of  a  native  genius.  Of  the 
great  quantity  of  literary  matter  afloat  good  poetry 
constitutes  a  small  proportion.  By  poetry  I  mean  not 
generally  the  language  of  harmony  or  fiction,  but  n 


metrical  disposition  of  articulate  bounds  varying 
according  to  the  taste  of  different  nations,  but  so 
distinguished  from  all  other  writings  as  to  be  univer 
sally  designated  poetry. 

Of  all  others  the  epic  is  that  department  of  the 
divine  art,  which  fewest  have  successfully  attempted. 
Lyrical,  dramatic,  satiric,  didactic,  and  other  species, 
have  had  their  shrines  crowded  with  votaries,  and 
with  some,  of  almost  all  ages,  who  have  been  distin 
guished.  But  the  epic  poem  is  universally  allowed 
to  be  of  all  poetical  works  most  dignified,  and  at 
the  same  time  most  difficult  of  execution.*  An 
epic  poem,  the  critics  agree,  is  the  greatest  work 
nature  is  capable  of,  and  genius  is  its  first  qualifica 
tion.')"  Many  nations  celebrated  for  learning  and 
refinement  have  flourished  for  centuries,  without 
producing  an  epic  poem  ;  and  one,  perhaps  the  most 
enlightened  of  modern  nations,  after  remaining  till 
a  very  late  aera  without  this  honour,  seems  at  last 
to  have  made  the  effort,  only  to  show  its  incapaci 
ty  to  accomplish  it.  Critically  speaking,  Homer, 
Virgil  and  Milton  occupy  exclusively  this  illustrious 
quarter  of  Parnassus,  and  time  alone  can  determine 
whether  Barlow  shall, be  seated  with  them. 

The  design  of  the  Columbiad  is  vast  and  bold, 
more  so  than  any  other  except  Milton's.  The  dis 
covery  of  a  new  world,  involving  all  the  noble 
images  arising  out  of  the  first  passage  of  the  Atlantic1 
ocean,  affords  a  broader  foundation  for  the  sublimt 
than  any  poet,  except  Milton,  ever  built  upon.  And 
the  subject  being  national  and  even  political,  adds  con 

*  Blair's  Lectrres. 

t  Pope's  recipe  to  make  an  epic 


83 

biderable  interest  to  its  essential  grandeur.  The  con* 
quest  of  America,  its  magnificent  rivers,  stupendous 
mountains,  immense  wealth,  and  the  avulsion  of  these 
states  from  their  mother  country,  afford  as  fruitful 
and  fine  an  argument,  as  could  be  imagined  for 
epic  operation.  But  the  story  of  the  Columbiad  is 
;it  once  one  of  the  noblest  and  the  most  arduous 
that  could  have  been  essayed.  To  make  men  he 
roes,  they  should  be  exhibited  through  the  magnify 
ing  medium  of  time ;  for  familiar  characters  and 
recent  dates  are  hard  to  fashion  to  the  epic  standard. 
The  moral  interwoven  with  the  story  is  unexcep- 
tionably  beautiful ;  and  in  respect  to  design  and 
moral,  the  poem  may  be  pronounced  perfect.  It  is 
difficult  for  a  lover  of  the  Iliad  and  Eneid  to  sub 
scribe  to  Mr.  Barlow's  opinion,  that  they  are  calcula 
ted  to  provoke  wars  and  sustain  tyrannies ;  though  it 
may  be  admitted  that  they  are  not  such  systematic 
inculcations,  as  the  Columbiad,  of  peace,  virtue  and 
the  amelioration  of  mankind.  When  we  reflect  that 
Mr.  Barlow  has  lived  through  the  most  tempestuous 
epoch  of  politics,  that  he  participated  in  the  revolu 
tion  of  his  own  country,  and  was  a  zealous  coadju 
tor  to  the  revolution  of  France,  that  he  has  always 
professed  very  decided  sentiments  relative  to  these 
thorny  topics,  and  that,  like  other  men,  he  must  have 
his  prepossessions  and  antipathies  connected  with 
them,  it  is  impossible  to  applaud  too  highly  the  can 
dour  and  impartiality  with  which  he  has  treated  the 
living  personages  and  contested  principles  introduced 
into  his  poem.  In  benevolence  and  liberality  he  is 
pre-eminent.  The  good  of  mankind,  much  mor* 


84 

than  their  pleasure,  seems  to  have  been  the  end  of 
his  work  :  and  with  a  strength  of  reason  and  abstrac 
tion  from  all  prejudice,  worthy  so  glorious  a  purpose, 
he  pursues  his  aim  in  a  strain  purely  and  truly  philo 
sophical.  There  are  many  philosophising  poets,  and 
those  who  blend  the  useful  with  the  sweet :  But 
where  shall  we  find  a  poem,  in  which  the  best  inte 
rests  of  humanity  are  as  steadily  kept  in  view,  or 
displayed  with  as  much  fascination,  as  in  the  Colum- 
biad?" 

This  is  great,  but  not  extravagant  praise.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  Mr.  Barlow  prizes  his  philosophy  so  far  be 
yond  his  poetry,  that  he  will  not  be  mortified  to  find 
panegyric  pausing  here.  As  a  moral  vision,  broadly 
based  in  historical  truth,  with  a  due  admixture  of 
fiction  and  poetic  machinery,  constructed  of  interest 
ing  incidents,  intersected  with  agreeable  episodes,  and 
conducted  to  an  instructive  catastrophe,  the  Colum- 
biad  will  always  be  admired.  If  the  words  could  be 
so  transposed  as  to  remove  every  vestige  of  versifica 
tion,  without  impairing  the  sense  and  beauty  of  this 
composition,  it  would  still  be  read,  and  read  with 
pleasure,  as  a  chaste,  moral,  and  elegant  performance. 
But  its  merits  lie  more  in  the  moral  of  the  design 
and  force  of  the  argument,  than  in  the  poetic  charms 
of  the  execution. 

It  is  evident  the  author  is  of  a  refined  and  con 
templative  mind;  but  a  disciplined  taste  will  not 
make  amends  for  a  dearth  of  invention.  Readers  are 
advertised  in  the  preface  that  they  will  find  the  uni 
ties  in  good  preservation.  But  what  great  poet  re 
gards  the  unities  ?  A  man  of  genius  should  as  soon 


85 

propitiate  the  fatal  sisters.  A  writer  who  sets  out 
with  the  heathenish  determination  of  adoring  through 
every  chapter,  these  mummies  of  the  schools,  cre 
ates  for  himself  a  most  unnecessary  and  insurmounta 
ble  difficulty.  If  in  the  course  of  his  flight,  he  im 
perceptibly  fall  within  their  influence,  he  may  derive 
fresh  lustre  from  their  reflection :  but  if  with  unde- 
viating  wing  he  follow  their  faint  light,  he  must  often 
grovel,  when  he  ought  to  be  soaring  unchecked 
through  the  zodiac  of  fancy.  The  unity  of  action 
has  still  some  followers,  left,  though  the  fame  of  the 
Orlando  Furioso  proves  how  successfully  even  that 
may  be  violated.  The  unity  of  place  in  an  epic  is 
hardly  practicable :  and  the  unity  of  time  is  one  of 
those  relics  of  dramatic  barbarity,  which  no  great 
epic  poet  ever  heeded,  and  which  the  first  of  dramatic 
poets  has  trampled  into  scorn.  As  the  Iliad  and 
Odyssey  occupy  several  weeks  each,  the  Eneid  some 
months,  and  Paradise  more  than  the  allotted  time,  why 
should  an  American  poet,  breathing  the  air  of  li 
berty,  and  proclaiming  its  high  behests,  fall  down  be 
fore  this  calf  of  criticism  ! 

From  this  fundamental  error,  spring  others,  all 
conspiring  to  debilitate  the  poem.  For  the  preser 
vation  of  the  unities,  as  it  should  seem,  the  structure 
is  but  a  conversation,  and  of  course  the  interest  to  be 
excited  in  the  characters  is  made  distant  and  faint, 
in  proportion  to  the  duplicity  of  the  fiction. 

Segnius  irritant  animos  demisse  per  aurcm. 

Every  page  of  the  Columbiad  reminds  us  that  it  is 
but  a  conversation  piece  between  Hesper  and  Colum- 


86 

bus,  in  which  all  is  past  or  future,  and  nothing  pre 
sent  or  striking.  The  transactions  indeed  are  recent, 
and  the  personages  familiar.  But  this,  which  might 
enhance  the  interest,  destroys  the  dignity  of  the  poem. 

It  is  clear  not  only  from  the  boast  of  the  preface, 
but  also  from  a  variety  of  internal  evidences,  that  Mr. 
Barlow  is  devoted  to  the  critical  proprieties  of  his  art. 
Yet  at  the  threshold  he  falls  into  a  fatal  error,  against 
which  all  critics,  from  Aristotle  to  Voltaire,  have 
warned  epic  composers :  that  is,  the  narrative  style. 
And  after  studying  and  analyzing  his  art  for  twenty 
years,  he  adopts  the  exploded  unities. 

The  faintness  of  his  characters  and  the  prevalence 
of  preceptive  dissertation  is  another  fault  not  less  de 
trimental,  which  casts  a  chilling  mistiness  over  the 
narrative.  It  is  said  one  of  the  Corneilles  preferred 
the  Pharsalia  to  the  Eneid,  because  of  its  abounding 
in  stoical  sentiments ;  which  is  probably  one  of  the 
many  reasons  why  the  Eneid  is  generally  preferred  to 
the  Pharsalia.  No  man  has  yet  appeared  possessing 
the  superlative  art  of  making  his  heroes  more  enga 
ging  in  reflection  than  action ;  and  Mr.  Barlow  dared 
greatly  in  the  cause  of  truth,  when  he  attempted  to 
render  his  verse  subservient  to  his  moral. 

This  tenuity  of  interest  is  beaten  out  to  a  degree 
of  languor,  by  the  absence  of  all  those  objects  of  huge, 
deep-lined,  disgusting  depravity,  which  poets  have 
properly  introduced  to  render  virtue  by  the  contrast 
more  lovely  and  attractive.  There  is  a  want  of  moral 
antithesis.  The  American  poet  does  not  seem  to  have 
reflected  that  mere  virtue  is  apt  to  prove  insipid,  and 

requires  the  contrast  of  vice  in  odious  shades  to  set 

4 


it  oft'  to  advantage.  In  his  praiseworthy  pursuit  of 
good,  by  an  effort  of  benevolence,  he  leaves  iniquity 
out  of  view ;  and  the  original  blast  of  his  poetry  ap 
pears  to  have  been  refined  down  to  the  mould  of  phi 
losophy. 

Such  are  the  constitutional  defects  of  the  Colum- 
biad:  defects  which,  however  they  may  affect  its 
poetic  reputation,  weigh  little  against  its  constitu 
tional  moral  excellence.  , 

As  to  the  superstructure,  whether  it  be  that  the 
author  is  not  endowed  with  that  fine  phrensy,  which 
is  indispensable  to  the  production  of  poetry  of  the 
first  order,  or  whether  it  be  that  an  overstrained  sub 
serviency  to  critical  rules  has  cramped  his  native 
powers,  I  cannot  determine  :  but  it  appears  to  want 
the  fire  and  sublimity  naturally  expected  in  an  epic. 
It  is  well  planned  and  well  executed  ;  but  we  do  not 
feel  the  master  touches,  which  genius  alone  suggests, 
and  no  art  can  supply.  There  is  great  sweetness 
in  the  cadence  and  equality  of  numbers,  an  affluence  of 
imagery  and  general  chastness  of  sentiment.  It  is 
what  the  ancients  termed  attic:  calm,  elegant  and 
refined.  But  we  look  in  vain  for  that  august  and 
gorgeous  majesty,  appropriate  to  epic  song,  that 
sublimates  our  ideas  as  we  read:  or  for  those 
rapturous  inspirations  of  genius,  that  possess  the 
reader  as  they  evidently  did  the  writer,  with  a  sort 
of  delirium,  which  causes  the  soul,  as  it  were,  to 
rush  into  the  brain,  and  overflow  at  the  eyes.  For 
these,  and  indeed  all  the  attributes  of  lofty  untamed 
genius,  breathing  celestial  fire  into  the  language  of 
man,  without  which  the  most  mellifluous  versification 


88 

scarcely  deserves  to  be  entitled  poetry,  we  look  in 
vain  through  the  passages  of  the  Columbiad. 

There  is  besides  a  deficiency  of  the  pathetic.  Pa 
thos  is  doubly  necessary  in  an  epic.  Independent 
of  the  immediate  sympathies  it  rouses,  it  serves 
moreover  to  prepare  for  and  palliate  those  extrava 
gancies  into  which  poetry  sometimes  plunges ;  and 
which,  unless  fortified  with  surrounding  beauties, 
that  master  the  feelings,  excite  all  the  effects  of  ludi 
crous  hyperbole. 

Non  satis  est  pulchra  esse  poemata:  dulcia  sunto 
Et  quocunque  volent,  animum  auditoris  agunto. 

Hor.  Ars  Poet. 

Que  dans  tons  vos  discours  la  passion  emue, 
Aille  chercher  le  coeur,  rechauffe  etle  remue. 

Boil.  Art  Poet. 

Mr.  Barlow  never  betrays  a  want  of  fancy,  percep 
tion  or  sentiment.  He  is  seldom  harsh  or  prosaic. 
His  learning,  benevolence,  elegance,  taste,  in  short 
his  eminent  qualifications  of  many  kinds,  dignify  and 
adorn  every  part  of  his  performance,  which  has  been 
carefully  elaborated  after  the  best  models,  and  is  as 
near  perfection  perhaps  as  art  can  render  it.  But  it 
wants  the  ether  of  poetic  creation,  the  genius  of  epic 
poetry.  We  are  pleased,  not  fascinated :  rarely 
shocked  at  ruggednesses ;  but  never  charmed  with 
unexpected  recreations.  The  Columbiad  is  all  serene, 
agreeable  and  instructive  ;  never  delightful,  pathetic  or 
sublime.  The  couplets  meander  smoothly  along, 
flowing  in  a  natural  current,  without  apparent  effort  or 
retrenchment ;  frequently  swelled  and  rippled  with  the 
breath  of  farcy,  and  in  almost  every  respect  pictu- 


89 

resque  and  inviting ;  but  where  do  they  gush  with  ge 
nius,  or  foam  with  the  liquid  fire  of  immortal  song  ? 

There  are  minor  blemishes,  which  would  not 
escape  a  critic :  and  indeed  this  work  has  been 
shamefully  criticised,  especially  in  this  country,  to 
whose  glory  it  is  so  purely  dedicated.  The  faults  to 
which  I  allude  are,  an  inflation  of  language  and 
proneness  to  alliteration.  The  choice  of  words  is 
a  matter  of  much  nicety  with  poets.  They  have 
always  been  indulged  in  the  use  of  such  as  prose 
writers  dare  not  meddle  with.  Obsolete  terms, 
verbs  transmuted  into  nouns,  and  nouns  into  verbs, 
with  many  other  such  liberties  they  have  never  been 
grudged.  But  these  indulgences  are  not  to  be 
abused  with  impunity.  The  adaptation  of  sound  to 
sense  is  a  leading  excellence  of  the  ancients,  and 
has  sometimes  been  attempted  with  partial  success 
by  later  poets.  But  the  Columbiad  teems  with  words 
that  are  unusual,  technical,  and  unmusical,  without 
any  perceptible  reason  or  apology  for  their  introduc 
tion.  "  Words  too  remote,  or  too  familiar,  defeat 
the  purpose  of  a  poet  ;"*  for  when  the  application  is 
forced,  the  effect  will  be  absurd. 

To  allege  that  a  poem  wants  invention  is  to  be 
sure  denying  it  the  first  of  poetical  merits:  but 
awarding  it  every  other,  is  rendering  a  homage  that 
few  are  entitled  to.  Mr.  Barlow  is  now  occupied, 
I  understand,  upon  a  work,f  for  which  more  undi 
vided  suffrages  may  be  predicted ;  and  what  country 

*  Johnson's  Life  of  Drydcn. 

*  A  History  of  America. 

K 


90 

can    boast  an  epic  on  the  national  history  equal  to 
the  Columbiad  ? 

Let  us  next  consider  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Marshall's 
Life  of  Washington,  another  great  national  work. 
When  we  reflect  that  the  Greeks  had  no  historian  till 
the  80th  Olympiad,  more  than  a  thousand  years  from, 
their  earliest  ages ;  that  Fabius  Pictor,  the  first  Ro 
man  who  wrote  an  account  of  his  country,  did  not 
write  till  540  years  after  the  foundation  of  Rome ; 
that  Gregory  of  Tours  is  the  earliest  of  what  are 
termed  modern  historians ;  and  that  many  great  na 
tions,  like  the  Carthaginians,  have  flourished  and 
passed  away  without  ever  having  had  an  historian  to 
transmit  their  annals  to  posterity ;  and  when  we  ad 
vert  moreover  to  the  doubts  that  overcast  all  our  best 
histories,  while  we  render  what  is  due  for  their  mul 
tiplication  and  improvement  of  late  years  to  the  dis 
covery  of  printing  and  progress  of  science,  we  can 
not  deny  that  the  American  history  is  a  very  early 
national  production  ;  nor  when  we  consider  its  mate 
rials  and  author,  can  we  any  more  deny  the  pre-emi 
nence  of  its  authenticity. 

During  the  war  of  the  revolution,  the  present  chief 
justice  accompanied  the  American  forces  in  the  ca 
pacity  of  deputy  judge  advocate,  which  situation 
afforded  him  the  best  means  of  becoming  practicallv 
conversant  with  the  details  of  that  contest,  its  diffi 
culties  and  resources,  the  characters  and  views  of 
those  on  whom  it  mainly  devolved,  and  the  construc 
tion,  movements  and  engagements  of  the  armies, 
In  process  of  time  he  attained  to  situations  of  more 
importance,  and  successively  filled  several  of  the  first 


91 

offices.*  Possessed  of  these  advantages,  endowed 
with  a  masculine,  versatile  and  discriminating  ge 
nius,  and  holding  a  place  calculated  to  stamp  weight 
on  whatever  he  should  publish,  he  was  selected  to 
compile  from  the  manuscripts  of  Washington,  and 
from  the  public  records  and  papers,  the  joint  annals  of 
Washington  and  his  country. 

The  objects  of  the  work  thus  confided  to  his  crea 
tion  were  to  perpetuate  a  correct  and  honourable  me 
morial  of  national  events,  and  to  immortalize  Wash 
ington.  The  hero  is  therefore  introduced  with  a  full 

*  The  various  public  stations  which  the  present  chief  jus 
tice  of  the  United  States  has  held,  may  be  thought  to  indicate 
an  early  stage  of  society.     During  the  war  he  served  in  the 
army,  and  to  this  clay  is   as  well  known  by  the  title  of  gene 
ral  as  by  that  of  judge.    There   are  numerous   instances   of 
this  combination,  or  rather  perhaps  confusion  of  civil,   mili 
tary  and  judicial  functions.    Mr.  Marshall  is  the  third  chief 
justice,  who    has  been  within  the   same  twelvemonth  a  judi 
cial  officer  and  a  foreign  ambassador.     The    most  improved 
nations  of  the    ancients    knew  no    distinction    between    the 
performance  of  civil  and  military  services.     Caesar  was  high 
priest  before  he  commanded  an  army ;  nor  was  it  till  so  late 
as  the   reign  of  Constantine  that  the  Romans  drew  a  line  of 
separation.     Glanville,    a   renowned    justiciary    of    England 
in  the    reign  of  Henry    II.     was   a  great  captain,  and  gain 
ed  a  signal  victory    over    the   forces  of  Scotland.     This   to 
be  sure  was  in  an  age  of  rudeness.     But  at  a  later  epoch,  at 
the  Assembly  of  the  States  of  Orleans,  in  France,  during  the 
minority    of  Charles    IX.    the    functions    of  justice    and   of 
war,  theretofore  indiscriminately  administered,  were  for  the 
first  time  formally  set   apart,  as  distinct  professions,  one  to 
the  Baillis  of  the  long  robe,   the  other  to  the  Baillis  of  the 
short  robe. 


92 

account  of  the  discovery  and  improvement  of  North 
.America  down  to  the  period  when  he  appears  upon 
the  scene.  After  which  period  till  his  death,  his 
biography  is  naturally  interwoven  with  the  transac 
tions  of  the  revolution  which  his  achievements  so 
largely  contributed  to  effect,  and  with  the  formation 
of  the  government  at  the  head  of  which  he  was 
placed. 

As  great  expectations  were  entertained  of  this  per 
formance,  considerable  disappointment  has  been  ex 
pressed  at  some  of  its  alleged  defects  :  particularly 
by  those  who,  vitiated  by  the  malevolent  system  ot 
criticism  that  prevails  in  England  and  this  country, 
are  never  satisfied  with  nature  and  plain  sense,  but 
incessantly  crave  the  amazing  and  romantic.  The 
press  has  rendered  a  modicum  of  learning  so  cheap 
and  attainable,  that  in  the  subdivision  of  literary  oc 
cupations,  criticism  has  been  seized  upon  as  a  sepa 
rate  handicraft,  whose  business  it  seems  to  be  to  dis 
sect  great  books  for  the  amusement  of  those  who 
have  not  minds  to  embrace  them  entire.  This  new- 
mystery  has  its  new  canons  and  models.  The  doc 
trine  of  passive  assimilation  is  proclaimed  through 
out  the  realms  of  letters.  Every  book,  before  it  cir 
culates,  is  submitted  to  the  ordeal ;  and  if  it  cannot 
endure  the  morsel  of  execration,  its  sale  is  preceded 
by  sentence  of  combustion.  The  groundwork  and 
substance  of  literature  are  no  longer  to  be  regarded ; 
but  readers  are  taught  to  rest  with  fastidious  inquiry 
on  the  superstructure  and  decorations.  Like  other 
tilings,  learning  seems  to  grow  wreak  and  vitious  with 
its  spread  and  refinement ;  and  that  primeval  age  to 


93 

be  returning,  when  history  will  be  unpalatable  unless 
preserved  in  poetry,  ethics  in  apothegms,  and  philo 
sophy  in  fables.  In  every  department  of  letters, 
standards  are  erected,  to  which  fresh  publications  are 
referred  for  their  estimate.  But  is  it  fair  to  condemn 
an  American  historian  to  oblivion,  because  he  is  less 
entertaining  than  Hume  or  Gibbon,  or  an  epic  poet, 
because  he  falls  short  of  Milton  ? — Extend  the  test. 
Compare  Marshall  with  Smollet,  Bissett  or  Fox,  and 
Barlow  with  the  metremongers  of  the  day,  the  pre 
sent  masters  of  the  song  in  England,  and  neither 
they  nor  their  country  need  fear  the  comparison. 

When  critics  carp  at  Marshall's  history,  because, 
as  has  been  averred,  it  moves  heavily  along  under  a 
load  of  provincial  documents,  a  propensity  to  con 
demnation  must  pervert  their  faculties.  None  but  a 
trading  critic  could  reprehend  an  annalist  for  giving  de 
tails  instead  of  a  retrospect,  and  the  speeches  of  his 
personages  precisely  as  they  were  delivered,  instead 
of  cutting  them  down  to  his  own  condensation.  The 
great  end  of  historical  writing  is  the  dissemination  of 
moral  truth  :  subsidiary,  but  subordinate  to  which 
purpose,  are  the  attributes  of  composition,  distribu 
tion  and  reflections.  One  of  the  best  informed  of 
late  writers  has  ventured  to  assert  that  ancient  history 
is  like  the  cabbage  as  big  as  a  house,  and  the  pot  as 
big  as  a  church,  that  was  made  to  boil  the  cabbage.* 
Without  subscribing  to  this  homely  sarcasm,  which 
strikes  at  the  root  of  the  tree  of  much  of  our  most 
useful  knowledge,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  history, 

?  Volt.  Es.  suv  !cs  ]\I<rurs,  Disc.  Prelim,  194. 


94 

both  ancient  and  modem,  is  too  often  and  palpably 
fabulous ;  and  that  mankind  are  of  late  more  than 
ever  disposed  to  postpone  authenticity  to  composition- 
The  public  documents  of  which  the  American  chiei 
justice  had  the  disposition,    would  be  inestimable , 
even  if  arranged  by  inferior  hands,  without  any  at 
tempt  at  shaping  them  into  a  connected  narrative. 
But  wrought,  as  they  have  been  by  him,  into  a  clear, 
manly,  systematic  and  philosophical  history,  without 
a  grain  of  merit  on  the  score  of  composition,  they 
would  outweigh  the  most  beautiful  composition  that 
ever  was  formed.     There  is  not  another  national  his 
tory  extant,  which  is  composed  entirely  of  authentic, 
public  materials,  by  a  cotemporary  and    a   partici 
pator. 

Nor  is  the  composition  unworthy  of  the  subject. 
The  commentaries  and  reflections  are  simple,  natural 
and  just.     The  style  and  language  plain,  rapid,  ner 
vous,  unsophisticated,  perhaps  too  bare  of  ornament 
and  sometimes  liable  to  the  imputation  of  peculiarity; 
but  never  rough,  irksome  or  inelegant.     The  poet 
and  the  orator  may  melt  in  cadences  or  bristle  with 
antitheses.    But  the  historian  must  hold  an  iron  pen, 
and  march  with  a  measured  step.     He  profanes  his 
function,  whenever  the  slightest  fiction  colours  his 
descriptions,  or  wit  flaunts  in  his  observations.     Fine, 
writing,  says  Addison,  consists  in  the  expression  of 
sentiments,  that  are  natural,  without  being  obvious  : 
or  as  Boiicau,  with  (if  possible)  still  greater  felicity 
defines  it,  "  des  idees  bien  eclaircies  et  misc  dans  un 
beau  jour,"  which  may  be  translated,  a  pleasing  ex 
position  of  clear  ideas.     It  is  this  that  constitutes  the 


95. 

secret  charm  of  prose  composition;  not  the  novelty 
of  the  sentiments,  the  polish  of  the  style,  or  the  scin 
tillations  of  fancy. 

As  simplicity  is  the  first  beauty  of  style,  so  is  au 
thenticity  the  chief  recommendation,  the  sun  of  his 
tory,  before  whose  effulgence  all  secondary  merits 
fade  away,  and  without  which  a  constellation  of  fac 
titious  lights  casts  but  a  feeble  and  unwholesome  lus 
tre.  The  historian,  who  sacrifices  his  inquiries  after 
facts  to  burnish  up  his  periods,  or  who,  with  an  abun 
dance  of  authentic  materials,  appears  too  frequently 
through  the  solid  texture  of  his  work,  in  episodes, 
animadversions,  and  characteristics,  exposes  himself 
lo  the  malevolence  of  his  cotemporaries  and  the  con 
tradiction  of  posterity.  Gibbon  sinks  through  his 
"  luminous  and  luxuriant  pages"  into  the  partisan  of 
infidelity.  And  Hume  provokes  doubts  and  opposi 
tion,  that  might  have  been  avoided,  by  sparing  his 
readers  some  of  his  own  deistical  opinions,  and  what 
Mr.  Fox  calls  "  his  childish  admiration  of  princes." — 
These  indeed  are  regal  banquets.  But  we  rise  from 
them  with  less  satisfaction,  than  from  the  homelier 
fare  of  the  American  :  for  we  are  certain  of  imbibing 
truth  alone  from  the  one,  and  poison  is  to  be  sus 
pected  in  the  other's  golden  cups.  The  latter  does 
not  indeed  present  us  with  an  occasional  appendix  of 
disquisition  or  a  cabinet  of  historical  curiosities.  It 
is  easy  to  entertain  ordinary  readers  with  Julian  the 
Apostate's  beard,  or  Thomas-a-Becket's  castigation. 
But  the  American  historian  had  neither  anomalies 
nor  miracles  to  deal  with.  The  recent  discovery  of 
•\  new  world  ;  the  still  more  recent  struggles  of  an 


m 

infant  people  to  shake  oft'  the  trammels  of  coloniza 
tion  ;  late  events,  of  little  except  moral  interest ;  par 
tial,  procrastinated,  and  seldom  signalized  warfare ; 
the  adjustment  of  treaties  and  formation  of  republi 
can  institutions,  though  highly  interesting  to  moral 
contemplation,  are  much  less  malleable,  than  remote 
and  doubtful  traditions  of  astonishing  transactions  into 
that  magazine  of  entertainment,  which  seems  to  be 
looked  for  in  a  modern  history.  But  whatever  the 
present  age  may  desire,  facts  soon  become  vastly 
more  important  than  dissertation ;  nor  can  moral  re 
sults  ever  be  fairly  taken,  unless  readers  may  impli 
citly  rely  on  the  truth  of  the  details. 

The  narrative  of  the  Life  of  Washington  might 
perhaps  have  been  enlivened  with  more  biographical 
and  characteristic  sketches.  But  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  to  draw  living  characters  is  an  arduous 
and  invidious  task.  And  when  the  whole  subject 
matter  is  well  considered,  the  author  will  be  found 
entitled  to  our  approbation  for  the  caution  he  has  ex 
ercised  in  this  particular.  As  to  Washington  him 
self,  the  uniformity  of  his  life,  and  taciturnity  of  his 
nature  precluded  any  sufficient  funds  for  this  minor 
scene:  though  I  cannot  refrain  from  observing  that 
his  unaffected  and  warm  piety,  his  belief  in  the  Chris 
tian  religion,  and  exemplary  discharge  of  all  its 
public  and  private  duties,  might  have  been  enlarged 
upon  with  more  emphasis  and  advantage. 

At  such  a  -period  as  the  present,  when  the  press, 
instead  of  enlightening  the  community,  is  converted 
into  a  most  powerful  engine  of  falsehood,  proscrip- 


97 

tion  and  confusion,  when  letters  are  perverted  to  the 
most  treacherous  and  unworthy  purposes,  when  his 
tories,  state  papers,  public  records  and  official  com 
munications  are  mutilated,  suppressed  or  published, 
as  it  suits  the  object  of  the  moment,  to  distort  or  dis 
guise,  and  not  to  make  known  facts  ;  and  when  es 
pecially  a  usurpation  of  hypercriticism  is  subsisting 
on  the  excoriation  of  literature,  it  behoves  every 
American,  who  admires  the  history  of  his  country, 
it  behoves  indeed  every  man,  who  loves  truth,  to 
uphold  an  authentic  national  work,  like  Marshall's, 
against  its  malignant  enemies  and  lukewarm  friends, 
and  to  cherish  it  as  a  performance  whose  subject  and 
authenticity  alone,  independent  of  any  other  merits, 
will  preserve  and  magnify  it  for  ever. 


LETTER  VIII. 


FROM  INCHIQUIN. 

Dated  at  Washington. 

YOUR  short  letter  of  the  20th  October,  which  I 
received  a  few  days  ago  by  a  vessel  from  Amsterdam, 
imposes  a  harder  task  than  I  had  prepared  to  per 
form.  Though  I  have  never  been  inattentive  to  the 
national  characteristics  of  the  American  people,  it 
was  not  my  intention  to  write  a  separate  account  of 
them;  but  rather  that  you  should  glean  these  parti 
culars  from  my  communications  generally.  Non  hoc 
pollicitus.  As,  however,  you  enjoin  it,  I  will  cheer 
fully  endeavour,  from  the  scanty  materials,  and  little 
time  I  can  command,  to  sketch  their  character ;  pre 
mising  that  I  enter  on  the  subject  with  more  than  or 
dinary  diffidence,  from  the  assurance  I  feel  of  its  in 
trinsic  difficulty,  and  the  many  prejudices  I  know 
I  must  encounter.  To  be  as  perspicuous  as  possible, 
I  shall  pursue  the  inquiry  under  the  separate  consi 
derations  of,  1.  Their  origin  and  population ;  2. 
Their  provincial  diversities;  3.  Their  natural  and 
political  association  ;  4.  Its  moral  results  ;  and,  last 
ly,  their  resources  and  prospects. 


99 

1.  History  affords  no  instance  of  a  nation  formed 
originally  on  such  principles,  or  of  such  materials, 
as  the  American.  It  is  a  common  opinion,  that  these 
materials  were  of  the  worst  species ;  vagabonds, 
mendicants,  and  convicts.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the 
first  settlers  were  mostly  of  reputable  families  and 
good  character,  who  came  to  America  under  the  au 
spices  of  intelligent  and  distinguished  individuals, 
in  the  language  of  their  own  epic,  "  braving  the  dan 
gers  of  untra versed  seas,"  in  an  honourable  and  sa 
cred  cause.  From  these  sources,  the  great  currents 
of  American  population  have  proceeded,  increased 
much  more  partially  than  is  commonly  supposed, 
from  foreign  streams.* 

The  indigenous  stocks  of  nations  are  patriarchal; 
but  time,  conquest,  and  migration,  have  successive 
ly  engrafted  so  many  exotic  species  on  almost  every 
original  stock,  that  there  are  few  people,  if  any,  whose 
descent  is  unadulterated  from  their  primeval  ances- 

*  After  the  battle  near  Worcester,  where  Charles  I.  was 
defeated  by  Cromwell,  7,000  Scotch  and  Dutch,  who  were 
taken  prisoners,  were  sent  to  London,  there  sold  as  slaves, 
and  thence  transported  to  work  the  American  plantations. 
But  though  these  men  had  the  misfortune  to  be  treated  igno- 
miniously,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  war  and  society,  as  now 
acknowledged,  they  are  not  to  be  accounted  infamous,  and 
superadded  to  the  imaginary  hordes  of  bondsmen  and  convicts, 
that  are,  by  the  vulgar  in  Europe,  supposed  to  have  been 
the  original  and  most  numerous  occupants  of  the  American 
states.  It  is  indeed  of  very  little  consequence  to  the  present 
inhabitants  of  this  country,  who  the  settlers  of  it  were  two 
hundred  years  ago.  But  if  this  point  were  worth  an  inquiry, 
it  might  be  shown  that  the  vulgar  opinion  is  as  erroneous  as 
it  is  absurd. 


100 

tors.  Without  extending  our  view  to  Asia  or  Africa* 
where  their  ancestry  is  much  purer  than  in  Europe,  a 
slight  examination  of  European  pretensions  to  ori 
ginal  nationality,  will  serve  to  show  how  little  there 
is  to  boast  of.  The  barbarian  aborigines  of  most 
European  countries,  have  been  mixed  with  Roman 
conquerors,  and  thus  blended,  received  the  compul 
sory  accessions  of  northern  savages,  who,  at  later  pe 
riods,  overran  nearly  all  the  continent.  The  ancient 
Romans,  a  highly  national,  were  not  an  original  peo 
ple,  but  a  band  of  freebooters,  whose  first  national 
act  was  forcibly  uniting  themselves  with  foreign 
women,  and  who,  during  the  first  centuries  of  their 
existence,  were  almost  perpetually  employed  in  the 
subjugation  of  foreign  nations,  that  were.successively 
embodied  with  the  Roman  empire.  Modern  Europe 
is  composed  of  mixed  nations,  whose  broadest  dis 
tinctions  have  appeared  since  their  resurrection  from 
the  darkness  of  the  middle  ages,  and  are  ascribablc 
more  to  the  influence  of  laws,  than  to  the  difference 
of  climate  or  natural  constitution.* 

The  white  population  of  North  America  is  of 
European  extraction,  with  scarcely  any  admixture 
with  the  Indian  aborigines.  At  least  three-fourths  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  derive  their  descent 
and  national  sympathies,  through  a  tradition  varying 
from  one  to  two  centuries,  from  neither  conquerors, 
colonization,  adventurers,  nor  savages,  but  from 

*  The  origin  of  nations  is  buried  in  fable.  Father  Lafiteau 
traces  the  genealogy  of  the  Americans,  some  of  them,  to  the 
ancient  Greeks, —  Volt.  Es.  sur  les  Mceurs>  Disc.  Prelim.  29. 


101 

sects  of  respectable  exiles,  by  whom  the  basis  of 
the  population  was  broadly  laid  in  principles  and  ha 
bits  of  virtue,  independence  and  toleration.  Nor 
were  the  American  provinces  properly  colonies, 
though  they  yielded  obedience  to  the  mother  coun 
tries.  The  governments  of  Europe  at  first  interested 
themselves  very  little  in  their  settlement  or  success. 
The  earliest  and  most  important  settlements  were 
achieved,  not  by  individual  adventurers,  or  indivi 
dual  families,  but  by  the  united  enterprise  of  sects 
and  congregations,  actuated  by  -motives  t>f  piety  and 
freedom,  associated  by  common  sentiments  and 
common  hardships ;  and  it  was  not  till  these  attempts 
were  in  a  prosperous  train,  that  mother  countries,  as 
they  entitled  themselves,  assumed  any  active  juris 
diction  over  them.  The  eastern  section  of  North 
America,  called  New  England,  was  originally  set 
tled  by  English  puritans,  the  companions  of  Crom 
well,  Hazlerig,  and  Hampden,  who  were  them 
selves  inhibited  from  a  similar  design,  after  every 
arrangement  was  completed  for  carrying  it  into  effect.* 
The  occupation  of  Carolina  was  effected  by  French 
Huguenots,  whose  emigration  was  promoted  and  pa 
tronised  by  Coligny.t  The  followers  of  Penn  pos 
sessed  themselves  peaceably  of  Pennsylvania,  about 

*  Brit.  Emfi.  in  Amer.  i>ol.  2.  Roberts.  Amer.  vol.  4.  c.  10. 
It  is  matter  of  curious  speculation  what  might  have  been  the 
consequences,  both  in  England  and  America,  if  the  restless 
genius  of  Cromwell  had  been  expelled  from  the  theatre 
where  it  afterwards  operated  such  astonishing  effects,  and 
unfettered  on  the  desert  shares  «f  America. 

t  5  Rayn.fl,  93. 


102 

the  same  time  that  Baltimore  and  his  persecuted  En 
glish  and  Irish  Catholic  associates  were  seated  in 
Maryland.  These  expeditions  were  composed  of 
pilgrims,  from  different  countries  and  of  various 
creeds;  but  all  Christians,  all  enthusiasts,  fly  ing  from 
persecution,  and  conducted  by  leaders  eminently  fit 
ted  to  be  the  founders  of  new  empires.  Excepting 
the  colonization  of  Virginia  under  Raleigh,  the 
most  numerous  white  proprietors  of  the  American 
soil  were  religious  exiles,  from  whom  the  greater 
part  of  the  present  race  are  sprung.  If,  as  is  sup 
posed,  an  illustrious  national  ancestry  be  of  any  ef 
fect  in  forming  and  invigorating  a  national  character, 
the  origin  of  this  nation  was  noble  and  auspicious. 
The  most  intractable  part  of  that  fierce  and  enthusi 
astic  devotion  to  certain  principles,  in  religion  and 
politics,  which  expelled  from  France  a  large  division 
of  its  most  useful  inhabitants,  which  revolutionized 
England,  and  impressed  upon  that  kingdom  an  ener 
getic  spirit  of  freedom  and  boldness  of  maritime  ad 
venture,  that  laid  the  groundwork  of  all  its  subse 
quent  greatness,  sought  vent  in  an  uncivilized  hemi 
sphere,  where  its  ardency  has  hitherto  met  with  no 
obstacle  that  could  restrain  it,  where  it  has  been  di 
lated  but  not  diminished  by  time  and  prosperity,  and 
infused  the  fanatical  morality,  the  factious  repub 
licanism,  and  the  general  enthusiasm,  for  which,  I 
think,  the  Americans  are  remarkable. 

From  this  origin  the  augmentation  has  been  pro 
digious  ;  so  much  so,  as  to  confound  the  calculations 
of  those  who  did  not  make  allowance  for  the  extra 
ordinary  circumstances  of  the  country,  but  chose  to 
1 


103 

apply  the  ordinary  and  established  rules  of  political 
arithmetic  to  determine  the  increase  of  a  country  not 
within  their  principles.*  An  exuberant  and  inex 
haustible  territory,  healthy  occupations  and  tempe* 
rate  lives  have  impelled  population  at  an  incredible 
rate,  notwithstanding  the  devastations  of  pestilence, 
which  seems  to  be  incidental  to  a  new  country.  Where 
nature  is  bountiful  of  the  inducements  to  marriage, 
the  increase  will  be  great,  even  in  spite  of  the  wars 
and  follies  of  man.f  And  where  subsistence  is  scarce, 
it  is  to  little  purpose  to  legislate  for  a  census.  The 
spring  of  population  lies  beyond  the  reach  of  politi 
cians  ;  and  can  neither  be  relaxed  materially  by  wars, 
nor  forced  by  artificial  bounties.  In  some  parts  of 
Europe  two  children  are  reckoned  from  a  marriage. 
In  England  it  is  said  there  are  four. 

In  the  United  States  the  average  is  nearly  six. £  So 
long  as  the  soil  can  bear  a  large  multiplication,  the 
momentum  will  increase.  I  have  no  data  by  which 
to  ascertain  the  American  census  at  an  early  period. 
But  Dr.  Franklin,  who  was  attentive  to  statistical  in 
quiries,  estimated  it,  in  1753,  at  little  more  than  one 
million.  5  The  augmentation  varies  in  different  places, 
but  on  a  general  average  is  double  in  about  twenty 

*  Brit.  Emfi.  in  Amer.  -vol.  1.  fi.  227.  Rayn.  vol.  6.  p.  351. 
The  Abba's  maximum  of  ten  millions  as  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
North  American  population,  is  almost  attained  already,  ar*5 
will  doubtless  be  exceeded  before  the  year  1816. 

t  Malth.   b.  2.  c.  11. 
\  Blodg.  Econ.  58. 

§  Marsh,  -vol.  \.p.  373.  Blodg.  Econ.  73.  Malth.  b.  2.  c. 
11.  states  the  population  of  New  England  at  21,200  in  164H. 
and  half  a  million  in  1760, 


104 

years.  Allowing  between  one  and  two  millions  fifh 
years  ago,  and  between  seven  and  eight  millions  now 
the  natural  duplications  yield  about  that  amount 
which  proves  that  the  accessions  from  foreign  countrie 
are  by  no  means  so  considerable  as  is  generally  ima 
gined.  But  of  this  there  are  still  more  decisive  proofs 
It  has  been  ascertained  by  actual  enumeration*  tha 
the  importations  of  foreigners  for  ten  years  preceding 
1805  did  not  exceed  four  thousand.  Many  of  thes( 
are  certainly  the  refuse  of  Irish,  German  and  Englisl 
populace,  who  have  mostly  taken  up  their  residence  ir 
the  cities  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  continent.  But  th< 
interior,  especially  the  new  lands,  is  principally  settlec 
by  native  Americans,  the  course  of  whose  migratior 
Is  from  east  to  west.  In  and  about  the  towns  on  the 
seabord,  in  the  middle  and  southern  states,  there  an 
many  emigrants  from  Europe,  some  of  whom  are 
ignorant  and  turbulent ;  but  their  proportion  in  the 
community  is  not  considerable,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  New  England  universally,  with  the  yeomanry  in 
general  throughout  the  United  States,  are  natives. 

2.  In  point  of  origin  the  people  of  this  country  are 
less  homogeneous  than  many  others.  But  the  pri 
mary  causes  of  their  migration  hither  were  the  same ; 
the  liberality  of  their  institutions,  their  intelligence 
and  common  interests,  together  with  external  pres 
sure,  have  tended  to  approximate  them  ;  and  though 
so  small  a  population  is  scattered  over  so  extensive  a 
territory,  including  many  varieties  of  climate,  their 
provincial  diversities  are  fewer  and  less  striking,  than 
might  be  expected.  About  nine  tenths  speak  pre- 

*  Blodg.  Econ.  7$. 


105 

cisely  the  same  language,  which  is  a  national  unity 
probably  not  to  be  found,  without  some  variation  of 
dialect,  among  the  same  number,  so  largely  diffused, 
in  any  other  quarter  of  the  world.  The  German*  is 
the  only  tongue  spoken,  that  forms  an  exception  to 
this  unity  of  language.  That  is  gradually  losing 
ground ;  and  unless  some  unforeseen  calamity  should 
check  the  progress  of  natural  increase,  it  is  probable, 
that  in  one  century,  there  will  be  one  hundred  millions 
of  people  in  America,  to  whom  the  English  speech, 
in  its  purity,  will  be  vernacular,  f 

*  The  provincialisms  of  most  countries  are  notorious.  The 
Grecian  dialects  are  preserved  to  this  day.  A  Parisian  can 
not  understand  the  Patois  of  the  southern,  departments  of 
France.  In  Great  Britain,  where,  from  the  circumscription 
of  the  territory,  the  diversity  is  more  remarkable,  the  inha 
bitants  of  different  counties  are  almost  unintelligible  to  each 
other.  If  a  Londoner,  a  Yorkshireman,  and  a  Cornishmanj 
a  Welshman,  a  Scotsman  and  an  Irishman  were  cast  together 
upon  a  desert  island,  they  might  be  at  a  loss  for  a  medium 
of  oral  communication.  So  various,  in  so  small  a  space,  are 
the  tongues  of  the  British  empire.  In  America  there  is  no 
difference  of  dialect.  There  is  a  hardness  of  pronunciation 
in  the  north,  and  an  indolent  mellowness  in  the  south ;  but 
no  striking  or  positive  variation.  The  Prince  of  Benevento^ 
(M.  Talleyrand,)  in  his  Memoir  on  the  United  States,  read 
before  the  National  Institute  in  the  year  5,  declares  identity 
of  language  one  of  the  most  binding  relations,  that  can  exist 
among  men. 

f  To  the  admirers  of  the  fulness  and  majesty  of  the  En 
glish  language,  it  may  be  consolatory  to  reflect,  that  while 
French  arms  and  the  French  tongue  are  pervading  every 
section  of  Europe,  to  such  an  extent  as  to  threaten  the  ex- 
tinction  of  the  English,  there  is  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  a 
nation  capable  of  preserving  and  transmitting  it  to  future  ge- 

o 


106 

The  laws,  manners,  interests,  religion  and  opi 
nions  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  different  states,  while 
they  differ  somewhat  in  detail,  essentially  correspond, 
and  coincide  in  principle  :  and  it  is  rather  from  phy 
sical  than  moral  circumstances,  that  their  diversities 
arise. 

That  demarcation,  which  the  hand  of  Heaven  has 
every  where  traced  between  natives  of  northern  and 
those  of  southern  latitudes,  is  aggravated  here  by  the 
pernicious  influence  of  subordinate  slavery,  with 
which  the  southern  Americans  indulge  their  constitu 
tional  indolence.  A  transposition  of  labour  upon 
slaves  is  incompatible  with  industry  and  morals,  the 
most  certain  wealth  of  nations.  Man  will  not  labour, 
where  he  can  substitute  slaves ;  and  wherever  man 
does  not  labour,  he  will  abuse  his  time  and  faculties. 
Plutarch  makes  Alexander  the  Great  say  to  his  volup 
tuous  officers,  that  nothing  is  so  royal  as  to  work;*  and 
certainly  it  may  be  said  with  emphatic  propriety  that 
nothing  is  so  republican.  Not  that  there  is  any  thing 
in  inferior  servitude  militant  with  republicanism.  On 
the  contrary,  "where there  is  a  vast  multitude  of  slaves, 
as  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  those  who  are  free, 
are  by  far  the  most  proud  and  jealous  of  their  free 
dom.  Freedom  is  to  them  not  only  an  enjoyment, 
but  a  kind  of  rank  and  privilege.  Not  seeing  there 
that  freedom,  as  in  countries  where  it  is  a  common 
blessing,  and  as  broad  and  general  as  the  air,  may  be 

Derations.  Supposing  the  French  to  supersede  all  others  in 
Europe,  yet  a  century  hence  the  English  will  be  spoken  by 
the  greatest  numbers. 

*  Plut.  de  Dae.  Vie  tf  Alex  andre*  torn,  9./z.  89- 


10? 

united  with  much  abject  toil,  with  great  misery,  with 
all  the  exterior  of  servitude,  liberty  looks,  amongst 
them,  like  something  that  is  more  noble  and  liberal. 
The  people  of  the  southern  colonies  are  much  more 
strongly,  and  with  a  higher  and  more  stubborn  spi 
rit,  attached  to  liberty  than  those  of  the  northern. 
Such  were  all  the  ancient  commonwealths ;  and  such 
will  be  the  masters  of  slaves,  who .  are  not  slaves 
themselves.  In  such  a  people  the  haughtiness  of 
domination  combines  with  the  spirit  of  freedom, 
fortifies  it,  and  renders  it  invincible."*  But  it  re 
laxes  the  sinews  of  industry,  corrupts  the  morals^  and 
checks  amelioration.  Fallow  lands,  in  the  titular 
possession  of  a  few  opulent  individuals,  defended 
from  creditors  by  feudal  tenures,  the  menial,  the 
agricultural,  and  even  the  mechanic  offices  performed 
by  unrewarded  bondsmen,  education,  except  among 
the  rich,  much  neglected,  religious  exercises  little 
attended  to,  commerce,  as  an  unworthy  employment, 
consigned  to  strangers,  large  fortunes  and  expensive 
establishments,4are  some  of  the  disadvantageous  pecu 
liarities,  by  which  the  southern  are  distinguished  from 
the  eastern  states.  Equality  of  possessions,  general 
information,  simplicity  of  manners,  sagacity,  indus 
try,  frugality,  enterprise,  a  rigorous  observance  of 
Presbyterian  rites,  a  strong  pervading  tincture  of  pu 
ritanical  tradition,  are  prominent  features  of  the  latter — 
features,  which  have  expanded  with  their  growth,  but 
retain  all  the  marked  character  of  their  original  cast. 

*  Burkc's  Sfieech  on  conciliation  with  America.     See  to  the 
same  effect,  Monf$g.  Grand,  "  D^ad,  d?.n  Rom.  c.  13.  p.  147. 


108 

The  resemblance  to  England  is  strongest  in  the  east, 
and  weakens  proceeding  south,  till  it  totally  disap 
pears.* 

The  division,  characteristic  and  territorial,  into 
which  the  Americans  themselves  have  separated  their 
country  is  that  of  the  southern,  northern  or  middle,, 
and  eastern  states.  The  western,  or  those  separated 
by  the  great  intersecting  ridge  of  mountains,  from  the 
Atlantic  states,  is  a  natural  allotment,  scarcely  yet 
acknowledged,  exhibiting  no  moral  varieties  from  the 
others ;  and  formed  by  migrations  from  the  east  and 
the  Atlantic  side. 

The  eastern  and  southern  sections  of  the  union  are 
inhabited  chiefly  by  natives.  The  population  of  the 

*  The  inhabitants  of  New  England  are  to  the  other  Ameri 
cans,  what  the  Scotch  are  to  the  English,  and  what  at  a  late 
period  of  the  Roman  empire,  the  Greeks  were  to  the  Romans- 
Their  population  heing  full,  they  leave  home  poor  but   well 
instructed,  shrewd   and   indefatigable,  and   in    almost  every 
quarter  of  the   union  succeed  in  the  attainment  of  many  of 
the  most  lucrative   and  influential  situations.     This,  as  the 
same  thing  does  in  England,   and  did   in  Rome,  excites  a 
jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  other  Americans.     One  of  Juve 
nal's  most  animated  satires  is  addressed  to  Umbritius,  on  this 
subject.    But  the  complaint  itself  is  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
superior  adroitness  of  the  Greeks. 
Jngenium  velox,  audacia  perdita,  sermo 
Promptus,  et  Isae  torrentior,  ede,  quid  ilium 
Esse  putes  ?  quemvis  hominem  secum  attulit  ad  nos, 
Grammaticus,  rhetor,  geometres,  pictor,  aliptes, 
Augur,  schcenobates,  medicus,  magus  omnia  novit. 
Grseculus  escuriens  in  coelum,  jusseris,  ibit 
Ad  summam  non  Maurus  erat,  neque  Sarmatanequc  Thrax* 
Qui  sumsitpcnnas,  mediis  sed  natus  Athenis. 

Ju-v.  Sat.  3.  r.  72. 


109 

middle  states  is  more  heterogeneous,  partaking  to  a 
certain  degree  of  the  properties  of  the  east  and  south, 
blended  in  different  proportions  with  its  own.  Less 
profuse  or  fierce  than  those  of  the  south,  less  hospi 
table  or  amiable  than  either ;  without  the  romantic 
lassitude,  the  lofty  prejudices  and  haughty  republi 
canism  of  the  southern  gentlemen,  or  the  invincible 
enterprise  of  the  eastern  people,  without  that  boldness 
of  characteristic,  and  inveterate  provincialism,  that 
are  displayed  in  both  ;*  but  richer,  less  prejudiced, 
more  contented,  and  more  thriving  in  population, 
agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures  and  resources 
than  either ;  their  capitals  being  the  emporia  of  the 
continent,  the  seat  of  its  empire  and  its  arts,  the  in 
habitants  of  what  are  called  the  middle  states  differ 
more  from  each  other,  and  less  from  those  of  the 

*  Without  even  excepting  the  English,  the  eastern  and 
southern  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  are  the  most  rovinp; 
of  any  civilized  people.  They  wander  much  from  home,  in 
pursuit  of  education,  trade,  and  pleasure,  are  gregarious 
when  abroad,  and  generally  desirous  of  returning.  Patriot 
ism,  as  a  broad  attachment  distinguished  from  provincialism;, 
prevails  as  much  in  the  middle,  as  in  the  southern  or  eastern 
states.  But  the  latter  are  more  national.  They  have  each  a 
stronger  unity  of  characteristic.  The  feelings  expressed  in 
the  reminiscltur  Argos  of  the  Latin  poet,  and  in  the  Ranz 
des  Vachcs  of  the  modern  Swiss,  are  strongly  implanted  in 
their  breasts.  The  Prince  of  Benevento  expresses  his  opi 
nion  that  the  occupation  of  fishing  weakens  the  love  of  country. 
But  in  the  people  of  New  England,  who  are  mostly  fishermen, 
whom  Brissot  styles  audax  lafieti  genus — and  upon  whom 
one  of  Burke's  most  splendid  flights  is  bestowed,  a  perpetual 
existence  at  sea  is  associated  with  an  invincible  attachment  f> 
*he  shores  of  their  nativitv. 


110 

east  and  south,  and  exhibit  in  our  present  view  a 
much  less  interesting  spectacle. 

3.  The  lien  of  this  "  mighty  continental  nation"* 
is  commercial  liberty :  not  mere  political  liberty,  but 
positive  freedom ;  geographical  absolution  from  all  but 
the  slightest  restraints ;  the  inherent  and  inalienable 
birthright  of  this  adolescent  people,  upon  the  enjoy 
ment  of  which  they  entered  by  a  lineal  title,  the  mo 
ment  they  felt  strength  enough  to  cast  off  the  trammels 
of  infancy :  a  heritage  as  natural  as  the  air  they 
breathe,  which,  whether  it  sweeten  the  toil  of  New 
England,  where  the  same  farmer  who  sows  and 
reaps  his  own  field,  is  also  the  mariner,  who  attends 
his  produce  on  distant  ventures,  or  inflate  the  pride 
of  the  south,  where  the  poor  black  sows  the  ground 
and  the  rich  white  reaps  the  harvest,  is  still  and  every 
where  the  same  "  brave  spirit,"  pervading  the  whole 
republic,  and  binding  it  together  by  an  influence, 
not  the  less  powerful,  because  its  current  is  propelled 
by  an  animating  contrariety.  The  American  people, 
dispersed  over  an  immense  territory,  abounding  in 
all  the  means  of  commercial  greatness,  to  whom  an 
opportunity  was  presented  at  an  early  period  of  adapt 
ing  their  government  to  their  circumstances,  follow 
ed  the  manifest  order  of  nature,  when  they  adopted 
a  free,  republican,  commercial  federation. 

The  course  and  catastrophe  of  the  French  revolu 
tion  have  cast  a  gloom  over  republicanism,  which 
perhaps  it  may  never  shake  off ;  and  which,  at  least 
for  the  present,  renders  it  in  Europe  repulsive  and 

*  Lord  Chatham's  Sfifeck  delivered  IQth  January,  1775- 
1 


in 

discreditable.  But  the  American  republic  is  the 
natural  fruit  of  the  American  soil :  the  spirit  of  its 
freedom  is  impassioned,  perhaps  factious,  but  not 
furious  or  bloody.  It  is  in  vain  to  attempt,  and  ab 
surd  to  desire,  the  introduction  of  the  republican 
polity  as  a  general  melioration  of  the  lot  of  nations. 
Many  causes,  that  are  beyond  the  reach  of  man, 
must  concur  to  its  establishment;  and  there  have 
been  few  countries  predisposed,  as  they  should  be, 
for  its  reception.  The  English  loathed  the  adul 
teration  they  endured  during  the  sera  of  their  com 
monwealth,  when  hypocritical  lowliness,  ferocious  fa 
naticism,  and  overstrained  economy,  were  substituted 
for  the  generous  and  munificent  patriotism  which 
ennobled  and  perpetuated  the  ancient  republics. 
Yet  short  as  was  its  duration,  and  perverted  as  were 
its  principles,  such  is  the  natural  vigour  of  a  free 
commonwealth,  that  the  English  received  from  theirs 
an  impulse,  which  while  it  darkened  their  character, 
greatly  increased  their  power,  and  gave  it  the  direc 
tion  it  has  ever  since  followed.  The  French  had 
none  of  the  ideas  or  propensities  suited  to  freedom : 
3nd  whatever  may  have  been  the  effects  of  their  revo 
lution  in  deracinating  abuses,  and  regenerating  their 
national  energies,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  a 
republican  government  would  endure  in  France.  The 
French  had  not  the  raw  material.  But  the  American 
federation  is  the  natural  offspring  of  commerce  and 
liberty,  whose  correlative  interests  will  bind  it  to- 
gether  in  principle,  even  after  its  formal  dissolution. 
What  are  the  merits  of  those  institutions  which  have 
been  framed  by  the  people  of  this  country  it  is  not 


112 

necessary  here  to  inquire,  or  whether  the  government 
be    calculated   for    strength   and   durability.     The 
states,  as  now  organized,  may  be  consolidated  or  dis 
membered,  may  fall  asunder  by  the  weight  and  weak- 
ness  of  the  union,  or  may  separate  in  a  convulsion. 
But  it  is  the  perfection  of  polity,  when  it  rests  on 
natural  bases ;  and  a  disunion  of  the  American  states, 
whatever  might  be  its  political  consequences,  could 
not  destroy  or  materially  change  their  mutual  com 
mercial  dependence,  and  would  not  probably  dimi 
nish  the  almost  universal  attachment  of  the  people  to 
republican  institutions.     The  empire,    in   point  of 
extent,  is  unwieldy.     The  east  and  the   south  are 
already  jealous  of  each  other,  and  the  west  regards 
them    both    with  suspicion.     But  a  community  of 
language,  of  laws,  of  political  attachments,  and  a  reci 
procity  of  interests  are  strong  bonds  of  union,     So 
many  theories  have  been  projected  on  the  excellence 
of  a  federal  republic,  and  so  much  disgrace  has  of 
late  been  cast  upon  republicanism  by  both  its  advo 
cates  and   enemks,   that  the  American  experiment 
must  be  regarded  with  no  small  anxiety  :  for  certain 
it  is  that  an   enlightened  and  predominant  republic, 
such  as  those  of  Greece,  Carthage  and  Rome,  is  the 
most  rational  and  glorious  object  the  mind  can  con 
template. 

4.  The  prevailing  character  of  these  national  ele 
ments  is  the  natural  result  from  their  geographical 
and  political  combination.  It  is  natural  that  a  peo 
ple  descended  so  lately  from  pilgrims  and  sectaries 
should  be  enthusiasts— that  a  commercial  people 
should  be  enterprising  and  ingenious — that  a  repub- 


113 

lican  people,  whose  press  is  free,  and  whose  govern- 
ment  is  a  government  of  laws  and  opinion,  should 
be  intelligent  and  licentious — that  an  adolescent  and 
prosperous  people  should  be  aspiring,  warlike  and 
vainglorious.  This  is  not  the  character  the  Ameri 
cans  bear  in  Europe.  The  question  there  is  whether 
they  have  any  national  character  at  all ;  and  the  com 
mon  impression  is  that  they  have  not. 

There  is  a  great  proneness  to  misrepresent  national 
character,  which  is  a  consideration  extremely  ob 
scured  by  gross  prejudices.*  That  verisimilitude  of 

*   See  Hume's  Essay  on  National  Character. 

Statesmen  have  studied  to  render  patriotism,  which  ought 
to  be  one  of  our  noblest  sentiments,  a  narrow,  cowardly  and 
illiberal  prejudice.  What  has  it  been  but  a  blind  and  narrow 
principle  producing  in  every  country  a  contempt  of  other 
countries  ?  Dr.  Price's  Discourse  on  Love  of  our  Country. 

What  are  the  characteristic  traits  of  modern  nations  ? 
The  Germans  are  a  people,  among  whom  the  profound  cor 
ruption  of  the  great  has  never  influenced  their  inferiors,  who 
love  their  country,  notwithstanding  the  indifference  of  their 
masters — a  people,  among  whom  the  spirit  of  revolt  and 
fidelity,  of  independence  and  servility,  has  never  changed  since 
the  days  of  Tacitus.  The  Batavians  are  still  industrious, 
phlegmatic  and  rational.  Italy,  with  her  hundred  princes, 
and  magnificent  recollections,  is  still  the  contrast  of  obscure 
and  republican  Switzerland.  Spain,  separated  from  other  na 
tions,  exhibits  a  character  of  isolated  originality.  The  stag 
nation  of  manners  in  Spain  may  preserve  that  nation,  after 
all  other  Europeans  shall  have  declined  in  corruption. 

A  mixture  of  the  blood  of  Germany  and  blood  of  France, 
the  English  perpetually  display  their  twofold  origin :  their  go 
vernment  formed  of  royalty  and  aristocracy;  their  religion 
Jess  pompous  than  the  Catholic,  more  brilliant  than  the  Ln- 


114 

habits,  manners  and  propensities,  indicative  of  the 
inhabitants  of  ancient  countries,  is  not  an  infallible 
index  to  the  national  character :  there  are  vulgar  fea- 

Iheran ;  their  military  at  once  ponderous  and  active ;  their  lite 
rature,  arts,  language,  features,  and  the  very  forms  of  their 
bodies,  partake  of  the  two  sources  from  whence  the  na 
tion  proceeds.  To  the  simplicity,  calmness,  good  sense,  and 
slowness  of  the  Germans,  they  join  the  glare,  fury,  folly,  vi 
vacity  and  elegance  of  the  French. 

The  English  excel  in  public  spirit ;  the  French  in  national 
honour.  Eldest  sons  of  antiquity,  theFrench,  Romans  in  genius, 
are  Greeks  in  character.  Restless  and  volatile  in  prosperity  ? 
constant  and  invincible  in  adversity  ;  formed  for  all  arts ;  ci 
vilized  to  excess  during  a  period  of  tranquillity ;  brutal  and 
savage  in  political  troubles  ;  floating,  like  vessels  without  bal 
last,  at  the  breath  of  passion,  now  in  the  clouds,  a  moment 
after  in  the  abyss ;  enthusiasts  in  good  and  evil ;  rendering 
the  one  without  expecting  a  return,  and  perpetrating  the 
other  without  remorse ;  forgetful  alike  of  their  crimes  and 
their  virtues ;  pusillanimous  lovers  of  life  during  peace,  pro 
digal  of  it  in  battle  ;  vain,  sarcastic,  and  ambitious  ;  despising 
whatever  is  not  theirs;  amiable  individuals;  disagreeable  in 
bodies;  charming  in  their  own  country ;  insupportable  else 
where  ;  by  turns  more  gentle  and  innocent  than  the  lamb 
that  is  slaughtered,  more  remorseless  and  ferocious  than  the 
tiger  that  devours — such  formerly  were  the  Athenians,  and 
such  now  are  theFrench.  Chateaubriand  Genie  du  Christianisme  - 

In  this  beautiful  picture  we  perceive  to  be  sure  a  strong- 
tinge  of  national  partiality;  but  we  perceive  also  the  touches 
of  a  master.  Some  of  the  features  of  the  French  have  been 
forced  forward  in  most  striking  lights,  by  the  late  revolu 
tion  :  and  others  are  exactly  true  to  the  life.  But  what  is 
principally  evident  throughout  the  whole  is  the  original  im- 
pres:-l'.;ns,  which  ages  of  refinement  have  not  worn  away  or 
improved. 


115 

tures,  striking,  but  deceptive.  Heroes,  poets  and 
historians  will  adapt  national  greatness  to  a  poor  and 
enslaved  people.  Peace,  plenty  and  a  certain  degree 
of  obscurity  render  a  people  happy  ;  and  if  they  are 
happy,  they  will  commonly  be  virtuous.*  But  virtue 

Among  the  ancients  the  Greeks  are  a  more  eminent  people 
than  their  conquerors  the  Romans,  who  did  not  achieve  their 
conquest  till  the  former  were  distracted  and  exhausted ;  and 
who  even  then,  and  ever  after  continued  in  all  things  but  arms? 
the  imitators  and  slaves  of  the  Greeks.  There  were  compara" 
lively  more  great  men  in  Greece  than  in  Rome;  particularly 
during  the  periods  of  their  decline  respectively.  When 
Greece  began  to  totter,  a  succession  of  heroes  appeared  to  her 
relief.  But  after  a  short  though  glorious  struggle,  Rome 
was  enslaved,  and  declined,  without  effort  or  interruption. 
There  was  in  the  character  of  the  Grecian  people  that  alacrity 
which  is  the  spring  of  so  many  great  actions;  to  which  the 
French  now  lay  claim. 

*  If  indeed  we  subscribe  to  Voltaire's  dogma  on  this  sub 
ject,  we  should  deprive  most  nations  of  any  character  at  all. 
La  populace,  says  he,  doit  etre  en  tout  pays  uniquement  oc- 
cupee  du  travail  des  mains.  L'esprit  d'une  nation  reside 
toujours  dans  le  petit  nombre  qui  fit  travailler  le  grand,  qui 
le  nourrit,  et  le  gouverne.  Es.  sur  les  Maura,  torn.  3.  c. 
47.  /i.  319.  But  Dr.  Johnson  pronounces  a  very  different 
opinion.  The  true  state  of  every  nation,  says  he,  is  the  state 
of  common  life.  The  manners  of  a  people  are  not  to  be 
found  in  the  schools  of  learning,  or  the  palaces  of  greatness 
where  the  national  character  is  obscured  or  obliterated  by 
travel  or  instruction,  by  philosophy  or  variety :  nor  is  public 
happiness  to  be  estimated  by  the  assemblies  of  the  gay,  or  the 
banquets  of  the  rich.  The  great  mass  of  nations  is  neither 
rich  nor  gay.  They,  whose  aggregate  constitutes  the  people, 
are  found  in  the  streets  and  villages,  in  the  shops  and  farms, 
and  from  them  collectively  considered  must  the  measure  of 


116 

and  happiness  are  not  so  imposing  as  greatness,  in  the 
national,  or  in  the  individual  estimate.  The  same 
principle  that  induces  a  preference  of  the  great  to  the 
good,  bears  admiration  from  the  wise  and  peaceable 
commonwealth  to  the  belligerent  empire.  We  prize 
military  renown  beyond  civil  or  pacific  distinction, 
following  the  blaze  of  glory  rather  than  the  sober  light 
of  wisdom.  We  eulogize  for  its  national  character, 
a  warlike  empire,  composed  of  the  most  despicable 
materials,  with  no  common  spirit  but  implicit  obe 
dience  to  chiefs,  through  whose  merits  alone  it  is  emi 
nent;  and  deny  the  same  homage  to  a  country  com 
posed  of  a  virtuous'-- and  intelligent  population,  go 
verned  by  one  common  sentiment  of  policy,  but 
whose  policy  happens  to  be  peace.  No  excellence  in 
the  arts,  no  morals,  no  refinement,  no  intelligence,  no 
literary  fame,  will  give  national  importance,  without 
an  ability  for  war,  and  a  high  martial  rank  among 
sovereign  states.  The  Chinese,  in  many  respects  a 
wise  and  original  people,  consisting  of  three  hundred 
millions  of  souls  under  one  head,  are  despised  by 
the  pettiest  nation  in  Europe.  The  Swiss  and  the 
Dutch,  the  only  powers  of  modern  Europe  that  ne vet- 
wage  foreign  wars,  acquired  the  only  national  reputa 
tion  they  ever  enjoyed,  not  by  any  peculiarity  of 

general  prosperity  betaken.  As  they  approach  to  delicacy  a  na 
tion  is  refined;  as  their  conveniences  are  multiplied,  a  nation? 
at  least  a  commercial  nation,  must  be  denominated  wealthy. 
Tour  to  the  Hebrides^  p.  32,  33.  To  the  meridian  of  what 
nation  in  Europe  is  Voltaire's  language  suitable  ?  Certainly 
not  to  that  of  the  gay  and  amiable  people,  of  whom  he  was 
one. 


117 

manners,  or  wise  institutions,  but  by  their  capacity 
for  resistance  to  hostile  encroachment.  Reflecting 
men  in  Europe  regard  the  American  revolution  as 
a  period  when  the  American  character  shone  forth 
with  considerable  distinction.  Yet  the  same  nation, 
in  part  the  same  men,  after  thirty  years  of  peace  and 
prosperity,  are  supposed  to  have  lost  the  energy  of 
patriotism  they  then  displayed.  An  expansion  of 
population,  of  resources,  of  territory,  of  power,  of  in 
formation,  of  freedom,  of  every  thing  that  tends  to 
magnify  man,  is  supposed  to  have  degenerated  the 
Americans.  Is  this  the  course  of  nature?  All  things 
are  said  to  tend  from  their  origin  to  a  certain  degree 
of  perfection,  and  thence  to  decline  and  dissolution. 
But  can  the  time  be  so  soon  arrived  for  the  tide  of 
American  declension?  According  to  the  common 
course  of  events,  the  genius  of  the  American  people 
should  be  enhanced,  not  deteriorated,  by  the  peace 
and  prosperity  they  have  enjoyed  since  the  period  of 
their  birth  as  a  nation.  By  sketches  of  the  present 
state  of  their  religion,  legislation,  literature,  arts  and 
society,  with  an  aspect  never  turned  from  their  na 
tional  characteristics,  and  embracing  no  further  details 
than  are  necessary  for  their  exposition,  I  propose  to 
endeavour  to  refute  the  false  opinions  inferred  from 
their  tranquillity,  and  at  the  same  time  to  exhibit 
their  national  character. 

In  this  age  of  infidelity  and  indifference,  to  call 
any  people  a  religious  people,  is  a  license,  which  no 
thing  but  a  comparative  view  of  the  state  of  religion 
in  this  and  in  other  Christian  countries,  can  uphold. 
It  is,  however,  true,  that  the  number  of  persons  de- 


118 

voted  to  pious  exercises,  from  reflection,  independ 
ent  of  education  and  habit,  is  greater  in  the  United 
States,  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  in  pro- 
portion  to  the  population  ;  and  religious  morality  is 
more  general  and  purer  here  than  elsewhere.  The 
political  ordinance  of  religious  toleration  is  one  of 
those  improvements  in  the  science  of  politics,  for 
which  mankind  will  acknowledge  their  obligations  to 
America  :  and  the  divorce  of  church  and  state  is  an 
inestimable  pledge  for  the  purity  and  stability  of  re 
publican  government.  Religious  toleration,  says 
the  Prince  of  Benevento,  is  one  of  the  most  power 
ful  guaranties  of  social  tranquillity  ;  for  where  liber 
ty  of  conscience  is  respected,  every  other  right  can 
not  fail  to  be  so.  As  Christianity  and  civilization  have 
hitherto  been  inseparable  companions,  it  is  probable 
that  where  the  practice  of  the  former  is  most  accept 
able,  the  influence  of  the  latter  will  be  the  most  per 
vading.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  Penn  and  Baltimore 
in  their  respective  provinces,  was  the  absolute  sepa 
ration  of  ecclesiastical  from  secular  concerns :  a  ca 
tholic  and  a  quaker,^  the  extremes  of  the  Christian 
creed,  thus  signalizing  their  administrations  by  a  li 
berality  equally  wise  and  magnanimous,  the  benefi 
cial  effects  of  which  will  be  felt  to  the  latest  genera 
tion.  In  New  England,  where  presbyterianism  is 
the  predominant  faith,  fanaticism  expired  slowly, 
and  proscription  blazed  up  more  than  once,  after  it 

*  It  is  worth  remarking,  that  Chesterfield  calls  the  quakers 
the  best  behaved  men,  and  that  Voltaire  considered  them  the 
most  catholic  Christians. 
1 


119 

was  believed  and  ought  to  have  been  extinguished.* 
But  at  this  time  persecution  is  impracticable.  Laws, 
and  opinions  stronger  than  laws,  prevent  it.  The 
churches  of  Rome,  of  England,  of  Luther,  of 
Wesley  and  of  Fox,  in  all  their  various  subdivisions 
and  modifications,  subsist  in  peace  and  harmony, 
worshipping  without  molestation,  according  to  their 
different  tenets.  Universal  toleration  has  produced 
numberless  particular  sects,  each  maintained  by  en 
thusiastic  proselytes.  Thus  the  Americans  are  a  na 
tion  of  freethinkers  ;  and  having  moreover  not  only 
no  established  church,  but  being  perfectly  unrestrain 
ed  in  their  belief,  those  persuasions  are  most  follow 
ed,  which  involve  the  utmost  refinements  of  enthu 
siasm,  and  rejection  of  ceremonial.  After  shaking 
off  entirely  the  shackles  of  superstition,  it  is  not  easy 
to  avoid  the  phrensy  of  fanaticism  ;  for  one  begins 
where  the  other  ends.  But  it  is  the  advantage  of 
the  latter,  that  whereas  superstition  binds  the  soul  in 
sloth  and  fear,  fanaticism  sets  it  free  from  their  mor 
tification;  and  though  for  a  time  it  may  float  in  an 
unsettled  medium,  it  will  settle  at  last  on  the  right 
base.f 

*  Alors  n'admettant  plus  d'autorite  visible, 
Chacun  fut  de  la  foi  cense  juge  infaillible  ; 
Et  sans  etre  approuve  par  le  clerge  Remain, 
Tout  protestant  fut  Pape,  une  bible  a  la  main.1 
f  These  observations  on  the  state  of  religion  in  the  United 
States,  are  meant  to  be  confined  to  its  national  effects ;  foras 
much  as  the  multiplication  and  freedom  of  sects  may  affect  the 
genius  of  the  people.  It  is  far  from  my  intention  to  pronounce 
any  opinion  upon  their  respective  merits.  ThusnwcK  however, 


120 

The  civil    institutions    of   this  country  conduce 
equally  with  religious  toleration  to  habits  of  intelli 
gence  and  independence.     Natural  equality   perhaps 
does  not  exist.     Birth,    affluence  and  talents  create 
distinctions,  notwithstanding  political  regulations  to 
the  contrary.     The  pride  of  family,  the  vanity    of 
wealth,  and  other  adventitious  advantages,  are  not 
without  their  sensation  in  society,  even  in  this  young 
republic.     But  patrician  and  plebeian  orders  are  un 
known,  and  that  third  or  middle  class,  upon  which 
so  many  theories  have  been  founded,  is  a  section 
that   has   no  existence   here.     Luxury  has  not  yet 
corrupted  the  rich,  nor  is  there  any  of  that   want, 
which  classifies  the  poor.     There  is  no  populace.* 
All  are  people.f     What  in  other  countries  is  called 
the  populace,  a   compost    heap,  whence  germinate 
mobs,  beggars,  and  tyrants,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
towns;  and  there  is  no  peasantry   in  the  country. 
Were  it  not  for  the  slaves  of  the  south,  there  would 
be  but  one  rank.     By  the  facility  of  subsistence  and 
high  price  of  labour,  by  the  universal  education  and 
universal  suffrage,  almost  every  man  is  a  yeoman  or 
a  citizen,  sensible  of  his  individual  importance.  Not 
more  than  350,000  of  the  seven  millions  composing 
the  population  of  the  American  states,  reside  in  large 
towns.     The  remainder  live  on  farms  or  in  villages. 

I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  that  toleration  seems  more  likely 
than  coercion  to  make  catholics.  The  fire  of  free  thinking 
will  burn  itself  out.  Nor  is  it  a  "  fond  and  fantastical  prophecy"7 
to  foretel,  that  free  inquiry  will  in  time  accomplish  what  ana- 
theraas  and  inquisitions  in  vain  endeavoured  to  compel, 

*  Plebs.  f  Populus. 


Most  of  them  are  proprietors  of  the  soil ;  and  many 
of  them  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  natives.* 
This  great  repartition  of  estate  has  necessarily  a  great 
and  beneficial  influence  on  the  morals  and  sentiments 
of  the  people,  which  the  laws  are  in  general  contrived 
to  aid  and  confirm.  The  abolition  of  the  rights  of 
primogeniture,  and  of  entails,  and  the  statutes  for  re 
gulating  the  transmission  of  property,  are  calculated 
to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  the  fortune  of  a  fami 
ly  in  the  hands  of  any  one  of  the  children ;  and  by 
distributing  it  equally  among  them  all,  serve  to  exalt 
those  sentiments  of  individual  independence,  which 
are  the  roots  of  patriotism.  They  are  most  attached 

*  Not  that  I  by  any  means  subscribe  to  the  sentiment  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  that  husbandmen  are  God's  chosen  people. 
Far  from  it.  They  are  more  prone  to  intoxication,  litigation., 
gambling  and  turbulence,  than  the  inhabitants  of  cities. 
The  popular  insurrections  that  have  threatened  the 
peace  of  this  government  since  the  establishment  of  the 
present  constitution,  have  broken  out  in  the  interior,  remote 
from  any  large  towns.  The  late  attempt  by  Burr,  was  to 
have  been  perpetrated  not  by  means  of  town  mobs,  but  frontier 
settlers,  or  what  are  known  here  by  the  denomination  of  back - 
v/oodsmen.  In  countries  where  the  peasants  are  so  ignorant 
and  poor  as  to  be  wholly  under  the  influence  of  superiors, 
their  laborious  simplicity  may  be  more  useful  to  the  state  and 
more  conducive  to  their  own  happiness,  than  the  occupations 
of  the  lower  classes  in  great  towns ;  especially  in  catholic 
countries,  where  the  lawfulness  of  innocent  recreations  pre 
vents  a  recurrence  to  vitious  amusements.  But,  in  the  United 
States,  the  people  are  neither  ignorant,  poor,  nor  catholic  ; 
and  the  virtues  of  contentment,  industry  and  sobriety,  are  at 
least  as  common  (if  not  more  so)  in  cities  as  in  the  coun 
tr. 


122 

to  the  soil,  who  own  a  part  of  it ;  from  which  attach* 
ment  spring  love  of  country,  glory,  and  that  fine  union 
of  public  with  private  feelings,  which  constitutes  the 
strength  and  ornament  of  republics.*  In  monarchies, 
these  sentiments  are  confined  to  the  great.  The  mass 
of  the  people  to  be  sure  instinctively  love  the  spot  of 
their  nativity,  but  are  seldom  animated  with  that 
noble,  personal,  and  selfish  and  obstinate  zeal,  which 
citizens  feel  for  what  they  call  their  own.  Hard  la 
bour  and  low  wages  stupify  and  vitiate  the  lower 
classes  of  most  countries.  But  in  the  United  States 
wages  are  very  high,  and  hard  labour  is  altogether  op 
tional.  Three  days'  work  out  of  seven  yields  a  sup 
port.  The  lassitude  and  dissipation,  which  might  be 
expected  from  so  much  leisure,  are  provided  against 
by  natural  circumstances.  On  one  side  the  sea,  and 
on  the  other  rich  waste  lands,  present  inexhaustible 
fields  of  adventure  and  opulence.  The  inducement 
to  labour,  the  recompense,  is  so  great,  that  the  Ame 
ricans,  with  the  utmost  facilities  of  subsistence,  are 
a  most  industrious  people.  As  in  higher  life,  learning 
and  assiduity  are  certain  passports  to  preferment  and 
celebrity,  so  in  the  occupations  of  trade,  agriculture, 
and  the  sea,  persevering  industry,  almost  without  a 
risk  of  disappointment,  leads  to  comfort  and  conse 
quence.  The  proportion  of  persons  of  large  fortune 
is  small ;  that  of  paupers  next  to  nothing.  Every 
one  is  a  man  of  business ;  every  thing  in  the  pro 
gress  of  emulation  and  improvement.  Universality 
of  successful  employment  diffuses  alacrity  and  happi- 

*  Sec  Montesq.  Grand,  et  Decad.  des  Rom.  c.  5. 


123 

ness  throughout  the  community.  No  taxes,  no  mili 
tary,  no  ranks,  remove  every  sensation  of  restraint. 
Each  individual  feels  himself  rising  in  his  fortunes ; 
and  the  nation,  rising  with  the  concentration  of  all 
this  elasticity,  rejoices  in  its  growing  greatness.  It 
is  the  perfection  of  civilized  society,  as  far  as  respects 
the  happiness  of  its  members,  when  its  ends  are  ac 
complished  with  the  least  pressure  from  government ; 
and  if  the  principle  of  internal  corruption,  and  the 
dangers  of  foreign  aggression,  did  not  render  neces 
sary  a  sacrifice  of  some  of  this  felicity,  to  preserve 
and  perpetuate  the  rest,  the  Americans  might  conti 
nue  to  float  in  undisturbed  buoyancy.  The  happi 
ness,  the  virtue,  and  the  most  desirable  character  of 
a  people  at  such  a  time,  and  under  such  circum 
stances,  are  most  perfect,  and  should  be  most  dis 
tinguished.  But  a  dash  of  licentiousness  already 
disturbs  this  happy  equilibrium,  and  it  must  be 
overthrown  by  foreign  or  domestic  violence,  unless 
it  be  retrenched  and  protected. 

From  ignorance  and  bigotry,  the  common  fea 
tures  of  common  people,  the  Americans  have  less  to 
fear  than  from  the  opposite  evils  of  faction  and  fa 
naticism.  Propensities  to  the  bottle,  to  conventicles, 
and  to  popular  assemblies,  are  founded  in  enthusiasm, 
and  fomented  by  freedom.  A  free  and  prosperous 
people  will  be  infected  with  the  lust  for  novelty  ;  a 
passion  more  easily  diverted  than  subdued.  It 
would  be  practicable  for  the  American  government  to 
give  such  encouragement  to  public  festivals  and  re 
creations,  as  might  tend  to  allay  popular  restlessness, 
and  to  give  the  popular  feeling  an. innocent  and  even 


124 

a  patriotic  direction.  But  at  present,  with  all  their 
fondness  for  public  meetings,  which  is  indulged  in 
a  numberless  variety  of  associations,  religious,  poli 
tical,  convivial  and  social,  greatly  exceeding  that  of 
any  other  country,  the  Americans  have  few  national 
festivals,  and  they  are  falling  into  disuse.* 

Perhaps  this  is  not  the  scene  for  science,  literature 
and  the  fine  arts.  Business  and  tranquillity  are  not 
their  elements.  The  poets,  painters,  architects  or  phi 
losophers  of  America  are  as  yet  neither  very  nume 
rous  nor  eminent.  But  the  Americans  are  by  no  means, 
as  is  often  asserted  in  Europe,  so  absorbed  in  ignoble 
pursuits,  as  to  be  insensible  to  the  arts  that  polish 
and  refine  society.  The  natural  genius  of  man  is  very 
similar  in  all  climates,  and  literary  excellence  has  had 
charms  for  all  civilized  men  in  their  turn.  Why  then 
should  a  free,  richand  rising  nation  be  lost  to  the  noblest 
attractions,  the  groundwork  for  whose  attachment 
to  literature  is  broadly  laid  in  a  far  more  general  disse 
mination  of  common  learning,  than  any  other  people 
enjoy  ?  There  are  few  Americans,  who  cannot  read 
and  write >  and  who  have  not  a  competent  knowledge 
of  figures.  Education  is  more  a  public  concern  here 
than  in  any  other  country.  In  the  little  state  of  Con 
necticut  alone,  there  are  not  less  than  1200  public 

*  Peace  and  plenty  have  already  somewhat  infatuated  the 
people  of  the  United  States, 

Whose  only  grievance  is  excess  of  ease. 
Freedom  their  pain  and  plenty  their  disease ; 

which  verse  of  Dryden's  is  much  more  applicable  to  then;; 
than  it  ever  was  to  the  nation  for  whom  it  was  made. 


125 

schools,  which  contain  about  40,000  scholars  at  a 
time.*  The  course  of  education,  however,  is  in  ge 
neral  short  and  superficial :  adapted  rather  to  the  oc 
casions  than  the  perfection  of  the  student.  There  is 
less  of  that  minute  division  of  employment,  which 
obtains  in  older  nations,  and  which  has  great  ten 
dency  toward  the  extent  and  certainty  of  acquire 
ments.  But  the  number  of  schools  is  unequalled 
elsewhere :  and  in  the  several  colleges  there  are 
probably  about  2,000  scholars  at  a  time. 

For  plain  rudimental  learning,  and  general,  prac 
tical  good  sense,  the  Americans  surpass  all  other  peo 
ple.  The  lower  classes  in  England,  and  even  in 
Scotland,  are  in  this  most  important  respect  much 
their  inferiors. 

But  the  national  character,  in  this  point,  is  rather 
that  of  an  almost  universal  mediocrity,  than  any  par 
ticular  intensity  of  acquirement.  The  literature  of 

*  See  Miller's  Retrospect  for  the  number  of  public  schools 
and  scholars.  For  the  circumstance  I  am  about  to  relate,  I 
cannot  refer  to  such  authority,  but  it  may  be  relied  upon  as 
authentic ;  and  is  certainly  most  curiously  indicative  of  the 
character  of  the  people  of  New  England — their  fondness  for 
learning  and  ardency  of  enterprise.  In  some  of  the  colleges, 
the  course  of  education  is  extremely  cheap  ;  so  much  so  as  to 
excite  the  ambition  of  many  farmers  and  labourers'  sons, 
v/hose  funds  would  not  be  adequate  to  any  expensive  under 
taking.  The  avenues  of  the  law,  the  church,  physic  and  ad 
vancement  in  public  life,  are  all  laid  open  to  the  bachelors  of 
arts.  But  many  who  attain  to  this  degree,  commence  their 
studies  without  a  farthing  in  their  pockets,  and  defray  the 
charges  of  a  collegiate  education  by  funds  earned  at  day  labour 
during  the  vacations,  or  before  they  had  entered  upon  their 
Titudies. 


126 

the  country,  to  advance  our  view  a  grade  higher,  is 
rather  solid  than  shining.  But  the  vast  number  of 
newspapers,  and  periodical*  publications,  the  im- 

*  It  will  not  be  lost  sight  of,  that  whatever  is  stated,  is  not 
intended  as  an  abstract  opinion,  but  merely  with  reference  to 
effects  on  the  genius  and  character  of  the  American  people. 
What  temporal  influence  the  subdivision  of  religious  sects  may 
have  on  the  nation,  as  a  nation,  is  endeavoured  to  be  explain 
ed,  without  entering  upon  an  examination  of  more  serious 
results :  and  in  like  manner  the  effect  of  the  number  of  news 
papers  and  other  periodical  publications,  on  the  genius  and 
character  of  the  people,  is  considered,  without  approving  that 
efifect,  or  rejoicing  at  the  augmentation.  I  consider  rational 
liberty,  useful  learning,  and  solid  science,  more  endangered 
from  what  is  called  the  freedom  of  the  press,  than  from  all 
the  hosts  of  ignorance  and  tyranny.  The  discovery  of  print 
ing  has  been  incalculably  beneficial  to  the  mass  of  mankind, 
but  like  all  other  benefits  this  is  susceptible  of  corruption  and 
abuse.  The  magazines,  reviews,  and  newspapers  that  are 
spreading  over  the  face  of  Europe  and  North  America,  threat 
en  to  deface  and  obliterate  every  vestige  of  the  good  sense 
and  information  to  be  derived  from  well  chosen  reading  and 
unprejudiced  inquiry.  In  the  United  States  particularly, 
where  the  people  in  general  are  so  well  informed,  there  is  less 
occasion  than  in  any  other  country,  for  these  little  lights ; 
and  more  occasion  and  a  better  atmosphere,  than  in  any  other, 
for  the  great  luminaries  of  science  and  instruction.  A  male 
volent  system  of  uncandid  criticism,  dictated  by  no  principle 
of  impartiality  or  improvement,  but  directed  with  a  single 
eye  to  circulation,  sale  and  profit,  is  the  ill-suited  vehicle  upon 
which  most  modern  performances  in  letters  are*  ushered  into 
the  world.  And  the  newspapers  of  England  and  the  United 
States,  almost  without  exception,  from  being  the  repositories 
of  politics  and  intelligence,  have  become  the  mere  base  or 
gans  of  faction,  ribaldry  and  sedition.  Any  obnoxious  indivi 
dual,  however  fair  his  character,  may  be  written  down  with 
impunity,  and  consigned  to  obscurity,  perhaps  the  grave- i 
1 


127 

mense  importations  from  Europe  of  books  of  every 
description,  and  their  continual  sale  at  very  high 
prices,  the  printing  presses,  the  public  libraries,  the 
philosophical  and  literary  institutions,  and,  above  all^ 
the  general  education  and  intelligence  of  the  commu 
nity,  most  effectually  refute  the  charges  of  indifference 
to  literature  and  science.  Germany  and  England  are 
the  only  countries  where  more  books  are  annually 
published  ;  and  in  neither  of  these,  though  their  ori 
ginal  writers  are  more  numerous,  is  the  number  of 
readers  so  great  as  in  the  United  States.  Nor  in  ei 
ther  of  those  or  any  other  country  whatever,  is  a  ge 
nius  for  writing  or  speaking  a  more  useful  or  corn- 
any  meritorious  work,  before  the  public  can  pass  its  judg 
ment,  may  be  destroyed  by  reviewers,  who  fatten  on  the  dis 
section,  while  the  author  perishes  for  want.  Criticism  wras 
once  accounted  the  most  difficult  of  all  arts,  to  which  none  pre 
tended  but  the  few  whom  great  experience,  profound  knowledge 
and  imposing  abilities  had  created  censors ;  who  applauded  to 
encourage,  and  corrected  to  improve.  But  now  it  is  become  the 
trade  and  mystery  of  those  who  have  not  capacity  or  industry 
for  any  other  ;  who  approve  as  they  are  paid  or  propitiated,  and 
condemn  from  motives  of  faction,  malice  and  ignorance.  To 
be  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  it  was  once  thought  necessary  to 
possess  some  information  and  character,  and  to  practise  some 
candour  and  liberality.  But  this  respectable  occupation  has 
become  the  last  resort  of  broken  fortunes  or  a  blasted  fame. 
That  free  political  inquiry  is  indispensable  to  republican  liber 
ty,  I  am  far  from  denying :  but  I  venture  to  predict  that  a 
licentious  press  will  prove  fatal  to  the  constitution  of  any 
[country  in  which  it  is  tolerated.  Letters  and  liberty  are  alike 
endangered  from  this  corruption  of  the  greatest  improvement 
dispensed  to  man.  It  is  an  alloy,  which  must  never  be  suffer. 
ed  to  exceed  its  due  proportion,  however  difficult  the  separr 
don  may  prove  :  or  the  metal  is  not  worth  preserving. 


128 

manding  endowment  than  in  this.  The  talents  dis 
played  in  the  American  state  papers,  both  for  com 
position  and  legislation  are  seldom  contested.  Inde 
pendent  of  several  public  literary  works,  of  sterling  and 
of  brilliant  merits,  almost  every  state  has  its  historian 
and  other  writers  :  and  statistical,  professional,  com 
mercial,  scientific  and  especially  political  treatises,  arc 
the  offspring  of  every  day,  and,  multiply  at  a  prodi 
gious  rate.  It  is  not  every  year,  in  any  country,  that 
produces  the  moeonii  car  minis  alitey  which  blooms, 
like  the  aloe,  hardly  once  an  age. 

In  all  the  useful  mechanic  arts,  in  common  and  in 
dispensable  manufactures,  as  well  as  in  not  a  few  of 
the  more  curious  and  costly  fabrications,  in  agricul 
ture  both  practically  and  scientifically,  in  the  construe- 
tion  of  houses  and  ships,  they  rank  with  the  most 
advanced  nations  of  Europe,  and  very  far  surpass 
some,  who  upon  no  better  pretension  than  a  higher 
national  ancestry,  presume  to  consider  the  Ameri 
cans  as  totally  unacquainted  with  refinements,  which 
in  fact  they  understand  and  enjoy  much  better  than 
themselves.  Their  architecture  is  always  neat  and 
commodious,  often  elegant,  and  in  some  instances, 
grand  and  imposing.  In  their  labour- saving  ma 
chinery,  in  their  implements  of  husbandry,  and  do 
mestic  utensils,  they  are  a  century  more  improved 
than  the  inhabitants  of  France  and  Spain. 

When  we  leave  the  province  of  utility,  and  ap~ 
proach  the  regions  of  elegance,  or  the  depths  of  eru 
dition,  it  is  true  they  are  in  a  state  of  minority,  when 
compared  with  the  most  improved  nations.  Some 


129 

arts  and  studies  require  leisure  and  patronage,  per 
haps  luxury,  to  foster  them  into  maturity.  Though 
of  these  the  American  soil  is  not  entirely  unproduc 
tive,  yet  such  shoots  as  have  appeared,  are  rare  and 
spontaneous.  There  are  few  individuals  with  the 
means  and  inclination  to  be  patrons  :  and  the  govern 
ment  has  hitherto  afforded  little  protection  or  coun 
tenance  to  such  improvements. 

Most  foreigners  impute  this  barbarian  niggardli 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  the  spirit  of  a 
republican  people,  and  the  policy  of  their  rulers  ;  and 
I  fear  there  are  not  wanting  native  Americans  who 
consider  the  fine  arts  and  republicanism  incompatible. 
But  how  rude  and  false  is  such  a  sentiment !  How 
offensive  to  the  history  and  genius  of  republics  ! 

Certain  it  is,  however,  that  there  is  almost  a  total 
absence  from  this  country  of  those  magnificent  me 
morials  and  incentives  of  distinction,  which  the  fine 
arts,  particularly  those  of  statuary  and  painting, 
create  and  sanctify.  There  is  scarcely  a  statue, 
structure  or  public  monument  to  commemorate  the 
achievements  of  their  war  for  independence.  The 
ground  where  the  principal  battles  were  fought,  re 
mains  unconsecrated — the  ashes  of  the  patriots  who 
died  for  liberty,  uninurned — and  every  disposition 
toward  a  suitable  emblazonment  of  those  events  and 
characters,  which  should  be  perpetually  present  to 
the  nation,  in  every  captivating  form,  has  been  re 
pressed  as  inimical  to  the  thrifty  policy  of  repub 
licanism.  Thousands  of  pens  indeed,  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  tongues,  vie  with  each  other  in  their 


130 

panegyric.  And  more  than  one  native  pencil  too  has 
been  dedicated  to  their  immortalizing*  But  these  arc- 
private  effusions.  The  nation  has  not  the  honour  of 
their  creation  ;  and  remains  to  this  day  with  scarcely 
one  of  those  great  and  splendid  edifices,  obelisks 
and  monuments,  which  should  be  scattered  over  the 
land  with  munificent  profusion,  to  attach  and  inspire 
its  inhabitants,  and  embody,  identify,  and  preserve 
their  national  feelings  and  character.  Patriotism  must 
have  shrines,  or  its  ardour  will  relent.  Permanent 
public  memorials  serve  not  only  to  invigorate  the 
character  of  a  country,  and  incite  the  best  emotions  of 
its  citizens,  but  to  embellish,  civilize  and  make  it 
happy.  Scilicet,  non  cemm  illam,  neque  figuram, 
tantam  vim  in  sese  habere  ;  sed  memoria  rerum  gesta- 
rum  earn  Jlammam  egregiis  viris,  in  pectore  crescere  ; 
neque  prius  sedari  quam  virtus  eorum  famam  atquc 
gloriam  adtequaverit. 

In  those  efforts  which  are  the  production  of  genius 
rather  than  erudition,  particularly  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  public  speaking,  the  Americans  have  attain- 
ed  to  greater  excellence  than  other  modern  nations, 
their  superiors  in  age  and  refinement.  In  the  preva 
lence  of  oratory,  as  a  common  talent,  in  the  number 
of  good  public  speakers,  in  the  fire  and  captivation 
of  their  public  harangues,  parliamentary,  popular, 
forensic  and  of  the  pulpit,  the  English  are  the  only 
modern  people  comparable  with  the  Americans,  and 
the  English  are  far  from  being  their  equals.  Popular 
representation  and  freedom  of  speech,  several  sove 
reignties,  each  one  represented  in  a  debating  assem- 


131 


bly,  always  rivals  and  sometimes  directly  opposed 
to  each  other,  cultivate  and  call  forth  the  most  striking 
powers  of  oratory ;  whose  conceptions  are  facilitated 
by  the  grandeur  of  surrounding  scenery,  and  sub 
limity  of  the  images  of  nature.  Not  only  oratory, 
but  all  the  arts  and  sciences  are  said  to  flourish  in  a 
fresh  soil :  and  Greece  will  ever  remain  an  illustrious 
instance,  that  a  cluster  of  commercial  republics  is 
eminently  adapted  to  their  propagation  and  perfec 
tion. 

But  there  are  circumstances  both  natural  and 
moral,  promotive  or  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
letters  and  the  fine  arts,  that  have  operated  on  differ 
ent  nations  and  ages,  which  baffle  research,  and  are 
indicated  only  in  effects,  not  to  be  traced  to  any  cer 
tain  cause.  Thus  Sallust  observes  of  the  Greeks, 
that  owing  to  their  great  genius  for  writing,  their 
acts  are  more  celebrated  than  they  deserved  to  be : 
whereas  the  Romans  did  not  write  enough  for  their 
own  renown.  At  popuh  Romano  numquam  ea  cop>a 
fiat :  quia  prudentissimus  quisque  negotiosus  maxims 
erat :  ingeninm  nemo  sine  corpore  exercebat :  optu- 
inus  quisque  facer  e,  quam  dicere  ;  $ua  ab  aliis  benefacta 
laudari,  quam  ipse  aliorum  narrare,  malebat.*  It  is 
common  in  Europe  to  regard  the  American  states 
with  contempt,  because,  among  other  defects,  of 
their  supposed  inaptitude  for  literary  refinements : 
and  the  nonproduction  of  famous  performances,  is 
adopted  as  a  proof  of  the  poverty  of  their  taste  for 

*  SaH.  de  Caul.  s.  8. 


literature,  which  is  ascribed  to  commercial  and  re 
publican  habits  and  laws.  I  have  endeavoured  to  show 
the  falsehood  of  these  premises.  But  admitting 
their  correctness,  does  the  inference  follow  ?  The 
Romans,  who,  as  I  have  just  shown,  wrote  very  little, 
who  were  not  a  commercial  people,  and  who,  above 
all  others,  were  addicted  to  theatrical  spectacles, 
never  had  a  tragic  poet ;  and  their  few  comic  writers 
are  inferior  to  those  of  Greece.  Spain  has  been 
said  to  have  produced  but  one  excellent  book,  and 
that  ridicules  most  others.  Yet  how  mistaken  our 
conclusions  would  be,  if  we  inferred  from  the  non- 
existence  of  tragic  poets  at  Rome,  that  the  Romans 
had  no  taste  for  tragedy,  or  from  reading  Don 
Quixotte,  that  the  Spaniards  were  an  ignorant  or  a 
lively  nation. 

There  is  no  subject  on  which  a  liberal  judgment 
should  proceed  so  cautiously  to  condemnation,  as  that 
of  the  literary  character  of  a  cotemporaneous  nation.* 
The  most  distinguished  scholars  have  been  the  most 
prejudiced,  when  they  came  to  weigh  the  comparative 
merits  of  their  own  and  other  nations  in  this  respect. 
Voltaire,  notwithstanding  all  his  learning  and  impar 
tiality  in  the  abstract,  and  Johnson,  take  their  stations 
at  the  head  of  the  prejudices  of  their  respective  coun 
tries.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the 
English  deny  the  charms  of  French  poetry,  or  that 
the  French  cannot  relish  Shakespeare  or  blank  verse. 

*  Aucun  peufilc  rfest  en  droit  de  se  moquer  d'un  autre,  sayr> 
Voltaire,  in  Disc.  Prelim,  p.  129.  Es.  sur  IGS  Mceurs, 


133 

When  a  young  people,   not  yet  half  a  century  ad 
vanced,  have  already  exhibited  a  genius  for  oratory 
and  legislation,  and  their  general  intelligence  is  so  un 
rivalled  as  that  of  the  Americans,  we  should  be  slow 
to  conclude,  from  the  paucity  of  their  original  wri 
ters,  that  they  want  an  aptitude  for  composition,  or 
a  taste  for  literature  and  the  arts.    Since  the  invention 
of  printing,  and  the  improvements  in  commerce,  the 
antiquated  principles  of  gradual  amelioration  are  no 
longer  applicable  to  any  people,  especially  not  to  the 
Americans.     Rudiments  are  obsolete.     As  the  dis 
covery  and  first  settlement  of  America  were  the  re 
sults  of,  and  simultaneous  with,  the  reappearance  of 
the  arts  and  sciences  during  the   15th  and  16th  cen 
turies,  and  as  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  have  ever 
since,  by  the  means  of  commerce  and  free  presses, 
been  intimately  connected  with  all  the  most  polished 
nations  of  the  older  world,  their  imitation  of  succes 
sive  improvements  has  been  close  and  constant,  some 
times  enlivened  with  distinguished  discoveries  and 
useful  inventions  of  their  own.     While  the  shackles 
of  a  mother  country  laid  upon  their  genius,  it  was 
necessarily  somewhat  restricted  and  mortified.    The 
revolution  called  it  forth  to  action,  with  all  the  ardour 
incident  to  such  occasions.     During  the  short  period 
that  has  elapsed  since  their  independence,  freedom, 
prosperity  and  ambition  have  stimulated  its  powers ; 
and  setting  aside  two,  or  perhaps  three,  of  the  most 
enlightened  empires  of  Europe,  the  literature,  arts 
and    sciences  of  the  people   of  the  United  States 
of  America,  are  equal,  and  their  general  information 
and  intelligence  superior,  to  those  of  any  other  nation. 


134 

A  people  so  lately  sprung  from  Europe,  so  closely 
connected  with  it,  and  so  much  younger  in  the  an- 
iials  of  civilization,  naturally  adopts  European  cus 
toms.  At  the  same  time  there  being  few  rich,  and 
no  poor,  there  is  less  disparity,  little  luxury,  and  mo 
rals  predominate  over  manners  in  this  country.  As 
civilized  society  rests  on  reciprocal  concessions,  its 
structure  is  most  harmonious  when  they  are  best 
regulated ;  for,  perhaps,  the  most  we  can  say  of  hu 
man  nature  is,  that  it  is  capable  of  being  rendered 
amiable  by  a  reciprocity  of  good  offices.  The  arts 
of  hospitality  and  politeness,  the  alternation  of  bu 
siness  and  pleasure,  social  assemblies,  innocent  re 
creations  and  good  breeding,  while  they  give  zest  to 
existence,  undoubtedly  tend  to  refine  and  cement  so 
ciety,  and  to  render  mankind  more  virtuous  as  well 
as  more  elegant.  Up  to  the  period  of  enervation, 
refinements  mend  the  affections  as  well  as  the  man- 
ners  :  but  it  is  the  misfortune  of  society,  that  civili 
zation,  after  a  certain  point,  begins  to  lose  its  seem- 
liness ;  morals  give  way  to  manners,  and  character 
has  no  weight  against  rank,  appearance  or  beha 
viour. 

Though  there  are  few  men  of  very  large  fortunes 
in  the  United  States,  a  great  proportion  are  in  easy 
circumstances,  and  hospitality  and  politeness  are 
common  virtues.  Commercial  people  are  said  to  be 
inhospitable.*  The  English  and  the  Dutch  are  the 
least  hospitable  people  of  modem  Europe.  But,  in 
the  United  States,  abundance  overcomes  the  calcu 
lating  spirit  of  trade,  and  the  east  and  the  south  vie 

*  Montesq.  JSsfi,  dcs  Loix, 


135 

with  each  other  in  unbounded  hospitality.  Even 
this,  by  some  of  those  Europeans  who  are  prepos 
sessed  against  this  country,  may  be  accounted  a 
remnant  of  simplicity  at  least,  if  not  of  barbarity. 
Savages  are  always  hospitable.  The  Romans  found 
it  necessary  to  prohibit  the  lavish  dispensation  of  this 
duty  among  the  Germans.  But  in  the  exercise  of 
such  a  virtue,  we  admire  the  vanquished  more  than 
their  conquerors  in  its  extinction. 

The  amusements  of  the  Americans  are  gayer  and 
less  ferocious  than  those  of  the  English.  They  are 
more  addicted  to  dancing,  for  instance,  and  less  to 
boxing,  bull- baiting,  and  cock-fighting.  Not  that 
there  is  more  ferocity  in  the  English  than  in  the 
American  character.  But  the  Americans  have  had 
opportunities,  of  which  they  have  availed  themselves, 
to  lay  aside  certain  savage  attachments,  which  un 
broken  custom  still  maintains  in  England.  The 
atrical  exhibitions,  the  sports  of  the  field,  and  the 
pleasures  of  the  table,  are  found  by  the  Americans  not 
incompatible  with  serious  and  lucrative  occupations, 
and  are  followed  with  a  general  and  increasing  relish. 
Gaming  and  vitious  dissipation  are  not  unpractised, 
but  more  commonly  by  inferior  than  the  better  sort 
of  people. 

The  prevailing  vice  is  inebriety  ;  induced  by  the 
relaxing  heats  of  the  climate  in  the  southern  and 
middle  states,  by  the  absence  of  all  restriction,  and 
the  high  price  of  wages.  From  this  odious  impu 
tation  New  England  is  exempt.  But  in  every  other 
part  of  the  Union,  the  labourers,  and  too  many  of 


136 

the  farmers,  are  given  up  to  a  pernicious  indulgence 
in  spirituous  liquors.* 

Marriages  in  the  United  States  are  contracted 
early,  and  generally  from  disinterested  motives.  With 
very  few  exceptions  they  are  sacred.  Adultery  is 
rare,  and  seduction  seldom  practised.  The  inter 
course  of  the  sexes  is  more  familiar,  without  vice, 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  ;  to  which  cir 
cumstance  may,  in  great  measure,  be  attributed  the 
happy  footing  of  society.  This  intercourse,  in  some 
countries,  is  confined,  by  cold  and  haughty  customs, 
almost  to  the  circles  of  consanguinity ;  in  others, 
from  opposite  causes,  it  is  unrestrained,  voluptuous, 
and  depraved.  In  the  United  States,  it  is  free, 
chaste  and  honourable.  Women  are  said  to  afford  a 
type  of  the  state  of  civilization.  In  savage  life  they 
are  slaves.  At  the  middle  era  of  refinement,  they 
are  companions.  With  its  excess  they  become  mis 
tresses  and  slaves  again.  North  America  is  now  at 
that  happy  mean,  when  well  educated  and  virtuous 
women  enjoy  the  confidence  of  their  husbands,  the 
reverence  of  their  children,  and  the  respect  of  socie 
ty,  which  is  chiefly  indebted  to  them  for  its  tone  and 
embellishments.  The  unobtrusive  and  insensible 
influence  of  the  sex  is  in  meridian  operation  at  this 
time  ;  and  as  the  company  of  virtuous  women  is  the 

*  The  prevailing  drink  of  some  nations  affords  a  partial  in 
dex  to  their  characters.  The  champaigne  of  the  French,  the 
malt  liquor  of  the  English,  the  whiskey  of  the  Irish,  the  gin 
of  the  Dutch,  the  rum  of  the  southern,  and  the  cyder  of  the 
eastern  Americans,  are  respectively  somewhat  indicative  of 
their  national  temperaments. 
1 


137 

best  school  for  manners,  the  Americans,  without  as 
high  a  polish  as  some  Europeans  acquire,  are  distin 
guished  for  a  sociability  and  urbanity,  that  all  nations, 
even  the  most  refined,  have  not  attained. 

Commerce,  which  equalizes  fortunes,  levels  ranks; 
and  parade  and  stateliness  can  be  kept  up  only  where 
there  is  great  disproportion  of  possessions.  Expen 
sive  establishments,  splendid  equipages,  and  magni 
ficent  entertainments,  are  sometimes  copied  after  Eu 
ropean  models.  But  they  are  neither  common  nor 
popular.  It  is  difficult  and  invidious  to  be  magnifi 
cent  in  a  republican  country,  where  there  is  no  po 
pulace,  and  so  many  members  of  society  have  where 
withal  to  be  generous  and  hospitable.  A  plentiful 
mediocrity,  a  hearty  hospitality,  a  steadier  and  less 
ostentatious  style  of  living,  are  more  congenial  with 
the  habits  and  fortunes  of  the  Americans.* 

*  The  United  States  of  America  seem  to  have  incurred  the 
obloquy  of  Europe,  in  proportion  as  their  happiness  and  power 
have  increased  ;  and  now  that  they  are  the  happiest  and  least 
depraved  people  in  the  world,  others  are  industriously  taught 
to  despise  them  as  the  most  vidous  and  miserable.  Most  coun 
tries  have  suffered  in  their  estimate  from  the  ignorance  and 
antipathies  of  others,  and  the  misrepresentations  of  prejudi 
ced  travellers  and  voyage  writers.  But  on  this  in  particular 
the  overflowing  phial  of  falsehood  and  opprobrium  has  been 
emptied.  That  the  genius  and  character  of  the  people  should 
be  misconceived  and  underrated,  is,  perhaps,  less  to  be  won 
dered  at,  than  the  pictures,  alternately  fulsome  and  disgust 
ing,  which  have  been  drawn  of  the  state  of  society,  morals 
and  manners  ;  because  these  can  hardly  be  mistaken  by  an 
actual  observer  ;  and  none  other,  it  might  be  supposed,  would 
attempt  them.  When  Buffon  and  D'Aubenton  exhibit  nature 
as  niggardly,  and  her  offspring  as  dwarfish  and  thwarted  in 

s 


138 

Having  thus  sketched  the  situation  of  this  coun 
try,  religious,  political  and   social,  let  me  hasten  to 
such  results  as  have  not  appeared  in  the  course  of  the 

America,  compared  with  their  species  in  Europe,  such  egre 
gious  errors  are  easily  assigned  to  no  uncommon  cause — a 
deficiency  of  practical  knowledge.  And  when  the  Abbe  Ray- 
nal,  erring  from  the  same  cause,  on  the  opposite  extreme, 
taking  it  for  granted  that  a  young  and  agricultural  commu 
nity  must  be  industrious  and  virtuous,  unpractised  in  the  lux 
urious  refinements  of  cities  and  higher  civilization,  fills  a 
page  or  two  with  flattering  delineations  of  their  primeval  and 
bucolic  characteristics ;  grouping  the  swains  of  Florida,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Canada  altogether  in  the  same  paragraph,  dress 
ed  out  in  the  florid  colours  of  his  own  imagination,  in  defi 
ance  of  all  truth,  and  without  the  least  appearance  of  even 
geographical  propriety,  while  we  smile,  we  cannot  be  sur 
prised  at  his  blunders.  But  when  writers,  with  the  advan 
tages  of  actual  observation,  portray  the  society  of  these 
states  in  the  disgusting  shades  of  vulgar,  unrelieved  depra 
vity,  those,  whom  similar  opportunities  have  made  acquaint 
ed  with  the  glaring  falsehood  of  these  pretended  likenesses, 
are  at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  motives  of  their  creation  ; 
and  can  ascribe  them  to  nothing  but  the  operation  of  national 
prejudice  on  minds  charged  with  an  unusual  portion  of  that 
popular  and  universal  jealousy.  Europe,  unwilling  to  admit 
that  a  region  so  lately  peopled  from  its  superabundant  popu 
lation,  should  be  any  thing  more  than  a  feeble  scion  from  the 
parent  stock,  unworthy  to  be  considered  as  an  equal,  much 
less  a  rival,  destined  one  day  to  surpass  and  overshadow 
the  parent  stock  itself,  has  disregarded  the  evidence  of  na 
ture  and  history  with  respect  to  this  country,  and  received  all 
her  impressions  from  the  most  perverted  and  unfounded  in 
telligence.  Would  such  monstrous  absurdities  be  tolerated 
else  as  the  visions  of  Brissot  and  the  cumbersome  tattle  of 
Liancourt ;  the  ridiculous  stories  of  Weld ;  the  singsong 
wanderings  of  Anacreon  Moore  ;  and  the  numberless  equally 


139 

retrospect,  and  to  some  brief  reflections  on  that  com 
mercial  spirit,  whose  infusion  is  supposed  to  debili 
tate  and  debase  the  whole.  It  must  always  be  borne 

preposterous  accounts  and  opinions  that  are  perpetually 
issuing  forth,  in  various  shapes,  from  different  quarters 
of  Europe,  pouring  their  ignorance  and  arrogance  on 
America  ?  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  lower  orders  of 
Europe  generally  believe  the  Americans  to  be  copper-colour 
ed,  when  the  communications  of  statesmen,  and  the  disqui 
sitions  of  literati,  are  the  first  to  proclaim  and  sanction  all 
the  narrow  prejudices  that  prevail  there  on  this  subject.  One 
of  the  last  and  most  contemptible  of  those  who  have  endea 
voured  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  tour  through  the  United 
States,  by  the  publication  of  a  volume  of  travels,  is  an  indi 
vidual  distinguished  for  his  genius  and  erudition,  a  scholar 
and  a  poet,  over  whose  mind,  therefore,  illiberal  preposses 
sions  should  have  less  sway,  than  over  the  mere  itinerants  and 
travel-wrights  of  the  age.  I  allude  to  Anacreon  Moore,  who 
is  so  entirely  the  slave.of  prejudice. when  his  pen  is  exercised 
on  this  country,  that  it  is  bereft  of  all  its  magic,  and  he  dwin 
dles  into  a  poor  epitome  of  common-place  calumnies.  He. 
left  England  to  take  upon  him  some  little  office  in  the  "  still- 
vex'd  Bermoothes  ;"  and  not  liking  the  situation,  came  friend 
less  and  pennyless  to  the  American  continent,  with  no  other 
recommendation  than  his  enchanting  talents  for  music ;  with 
which  passport  he  sang  his  way  through  some  of  the  chief 
towns,  loitering  where  he  was  bidden,  and  almost  piping  foi 
a  meal;  of  course  without  any  means  of  knowing  or  appre 
ciating  the  inhabitants.  Yet,  on  his  return,  necessity  drove 
him  to  manufacture  a  paltry,  malignant  duodecimo,  disgrace 
ful  alike  to  his  head  and  his  heart ;  in  which,  after  dealing 
out  his  ingratitude  in  as  much  prose  as  he  could  produce  on 
the  occasion,  he  falls  away  into  rhyme,  as  grovelling  as  his 
usual  strains  are  lofty,  and  spits  the  remainder  of  his  con 
temptible  venom  in  doggerel  and  recitative.  Goldsmith,  who 
travelled  over  Europe  on  foot,  with  a  wallet  on  his  shoulders.  hnc 


140 

in  mind,  that  estimates  of  national  character  are  to  be 
formed  from  that  class  of  the  community,  whatever 
it  may  be  in  different  nations,  which  is  the  largest, 

declared  that  to  be  the  only  plan  of  becoming  conversant  with 
the  real  manners  of  a  nation.  But  certainly  a  pauper  or  hurdy 
gurdy  grinder,  who  is  seldom  admitted  beyond  the  outer 
gates  of  the  better  sort,  and  then  not  as  a  guest  or  an  equal, 
but  as  a  part  of  their  entertainment,  however  intimate  he  may- 
become  with  the  kitchens  and  the  ale-houses,  cannot  be  a  very 
competent  judge  of  the  state  of  society ;  and  it  is  natural 
that  his  accounts  should  be  limited  by  his  experience,  or 
wherever  they  exceed  it,  be  arbitrary  and  untrue. 

The  labours  of  this  class  of  writing  travellers  in  America 
have  been  seconded  by  those  of  another,  who,  as  their  wri 
tings  are  confined  to  bills  of  exchange  and  accounts  current, 
have  contented  themselves  with  being  oral  haberdashers  of 
small  stories  and  retailers  of  ribaldry.  Swarms  of  noxious 
insects  swept  from  the  factories  and  spunging  houses  of  Eu 
rope,  after  enjoying  a  full  harvest  of  emolument  and  import 
ance  in  the  cities  of  this  country,  return  to  their  original  in 
significance  at  home,  to  buzz  aspersions  through  their  "  little- 
platoons  of  society,"  and  then  come  back  again  to  bask  in  the 
sunshine  they  feign  to  slight.  Apprentices  and  understrap 
pers,  mongrel  abbes,  and  gens  d'industrie,  in  the  course  of 
their  flight  over  the  Atlantic,  are  transmuted  into  fine  gen 
tlemen  and  virtuosi,  shocked  at  the  barbarian  customs  of  this 
savage  republic ;  the  hospitality  of  whose  citizens  they  con 
descend  to  accept,  while  they  commiserate  and  calumniate 
their  hosts,  and  consider  it  their  especial  errand  and  office  to 
vilify,  disturb,  and  overturn  the  government.  The  time  was: 
when  these  sturdy  beggars  walked  without  knocking  into 
every  door,  taking  the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogue,  and  the 
uppermost  rooms  at  feasts,  devouring'  widows'  houses,  reviling 
with  impunity  the  food  they  fed  on.  But  so  many  ludicrous, 
and  so  many  serious  explosions  have  gone  off  of  these  trans 
atlantic  bubbles,  so  many  individuals  have  been  put  to  shame, 


141 

and  constitutes  the  most  important  portion  of  the  po- 
pulation  ;  especially  when  the  Americans  are  the  sub 
ject  ;  inasmuch  as  they  have,  in  fact,  but  one  clasr, 

so  many  respectable  families  to  ruin,  by  their  polluting  con 
tact,  that  the  delusion  is  broke,  and  they  begin  to  be  seen  in 
their  essential  hideousness.  Persons  of  condition  from  abroad 
have  so  often  proved  to  be  ostlers  and  footmen,  and  men  of 
learning  mountebank  doctors,  that  the  Americans  find  it  ne 
cessary  to  shake  these  foreign  vermin  from  their  skirts,  and 
to  assert  a  dignity  and  self  respect,  which  are  the  first  steps 
to  that  consideration  from  others,  hitherto  by  this  excrescent 
usurpation  repelled  from  their  society. 


Hie  nigra  succus  loliginis)  h<ec  est 
Erugo  mera.  - 

At  the  inn,  where  I  lodged  on  my  first  arrival,  it  was  my 
fortune  to  be  assorted  at  every  meal  with  half  a  dozen  agents 
from  the  manufacturing  towns  of  England,  some  Frenchmen, 
exiled  from  St.  Domingo,  a  Dutch  supercargo,  a  Chinese  man 
darin,  as  a  caitiff  from  Canton  entitled  himself,  the  young  Greek, 
a  copy  of  one  of  whose  letters  I  sent  you  some  time  ago,  and  a 
countryman  of  mine  ;  all  of  whom,  after  a  plentiful  regale, 
and  drinking  each  other's  healths  till  their  brains  were  addled 
with  strong  liquors,  would  almost  every  day  chime  into  a 
general  execration  of  the  fare,  climate,  customs,  people,  and 
institutions  of  this  nether  region.  One  of  the  Englishmen,  a 
native  of  Cornwall,  who  never  was  out  of  a  mist  in  his  life 
till  he  left  the  parish  of  his  birth,  complained  of  the  varia 
bleness  of  the  weather  ;  another  of  the  badness  of  the  beef; 
and  a  third  of  the  porter,  alleviations,  without  which  they 
pronounced  existence  insupportable  ;  taking  care  to  accom 
pany  their  complaints  with  magnificent  eulogiums  on  the 
clear  sky,  cheap  living,  and  other  equally  unquestionable  ad 
vantages  of  their  own  country,  with  occasional  intimations 
«hrovn  in  of  their  personal  importance  at  home.  The  Crc- 


142 

of  society.  But  in  any  nation  a  few  individuals,  of 
either  the  higher  or  lowest  class,  are  not  to  be  adopt 
ed  as  national  types,  nor  the  impressions  they  com- 

ole  French,  in  a  bastard  dialect,  declaimed  at  the  dishonesty 
and  fickleness  of  the  Americans,  the  demureness  of  their 
manners,  and  provoking  irregularity  of  the  language ;  wind 
ing  up  their  phillippic  with  a  rapturous  recollection  of  the 
charms  of  Paris ;  where,  in  all  probability,  no  one  of  them 
ever  was,  except  to  obtain  passports  for  leaving  the  kingdom 

They  talk  of  beauties  that  they  never  saw, 
And  fancy  raptures  that  they  never  knew. 

The  Chinese,  who  never  was  free  from  a  sweat  till  he  doubled 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  who,  when  in  Canton,  never 
forgot  in  his  prayers  to  implore  the  blessings  of  a  famine  or 
pestilence,  catching  the  contagion  of  the  company,   and  me 
chanically  imitative,  though  he  could  not  speak  so  as  to  be 
understood,  endeavoured  by  signs  and  shrugs  to  show  that  ho 
suffered  from  the  heat,  and  gave  us  to  understand  that  an  an 
nual  plague  must  be  inevitable  in  such  a  climate.    The  Irish 
man,  who  swallowed   two  bottles  of  claret  with  a  meal,  be 
sides  brandy  and  malt  liquors,  swore  the  intemperate  weathei 
gave  him  fevers.     The  Hollander  smoked  his  phlegmatic  pipe 
In  silence,   looking  approbation  ;  and  the   complying  Greek 
nodded   assent,  while   at  table,  to  every  syllabic  that  was  ut 
tered  ;  though  he  afterwards  coincided  with  me  in  a  contra 
diction  of  the  whole.     When  I  was   formerly  in  America,  I 
knew    several  foreigners,  then  well  stricken  in  years,  who 
had  resided  here  since  the  peace  of  1783,  always  grumbling 
over  the  privations  of  this  country,  and  sighing  for  the  mo 
ment  that  should  once  more  present  them  to  the  enjoyments 
of  their  own ;  most  of  whom  I  have  seen  since  my  present 
visit,  living  exactly  where  and  as  they  were,  grumbling  and 
sighing  as  usual ;  but  fat  and  satisfied,  and  indulging  not  the 
least  expectation  of  ever  exchanging  their  forlorn  slate  here 
for  their  brilliant  nrospecfs  elsewhere.     Like  a  well-fed  cu- 
1 


143 

municate,  received  as  the  national  character.  Our  opi 
nions  of  the  French  or  English  would  be  greatly  er 
roneous,  if  our  inquiries  were  circumscribed  to  Pa 
ris  or  London. 

rate,  they  dwell  for  ever  on  the  fascinations  of  futurity,  as 
contrasted  with  the  wretchedness  of  mortality,  recommend 
ing  all  good  men  to  hasten  from  the  one  to  the  other,  but 
without  any  wish  for  themselves  to  leave  this  world  of  tribu 
lation. 

But  the  arrant  misrepresentations  of  this  country,  which 
philosophers  and  historians,  travellers  and  talebearers  seem 
to  have  conspired  to  impress  on  the  ignorance  and  prejudices 
of  others,  would  not  have  had  the  permanent  and  extensive 
effect  they  have  had,  both  here  and  in  Europe,  had  they  not 
been  adopted,  patronised  and  disseminated  by  those  native 
Americans,  of  whom,  the  number,  though  daily  diminishing, 
is  still  too  great ;  who,  awed  by  perpetual  comparisons  with 
the  superior  refinement,  power,  intelligence,  and  happiness 
of  Europe,  have  been  rebuked  into  concessions  of  their  own 
inferiority.  That  involuntary  feeling  of  respect,  with  which 
the  American  colonists  were  accustomed  to  regard  Europe? 
particularly  their  mother  country,  it  will  require  a  generation 
or  two  to  wear  out.  By  European  individuals  it  is  asserted  on 
all  occasions ;  by  many  American  individuals  it  is  almost  as 
often,  sometimes  unconsciously,  acknowledged,  on  one  side 
enforced,  on  the  other  conceded,  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  mark* 
not  indeed  the  character  of  the  country,  for  the  country  in 
general  neither  feels  nor  avows  it,  but  the  characters  of  many 
respectable  and  influential  individuals,  with  a  tameness  and 
.subserviency  they  themselves  are  not  aware  of;  which  per 
vade  every  department,  particularly  those  of  social  life  and 
the  higher  classes ;  and  carry  abroad  among  the  many 
who  adopt  these  individuals  as  types  of  the  nation,  those  opi 
nions  which  are  so  prevalent  of  its  want  of  an  original  national 

genius  and  character.     It   is  this  colonial  spirit  which  causes 
Incessant  struggles  between  an  instinctivf   love  of  country 

and  an  habitual  veneration  for  what  is  European :  in  which 


144 

A  republican  federation,  a  free  press,  generai  edu 
cation,  abundant  subsistence,  high  price  of  labour,  a 
warm  climate,  habits  of  intemperance,  a  variety  of 

struggle  the  latter  feeling  too  often  predominates  ;  and  with 
many  native  Americans  of  education  and  affluence,  who  are 
by  no  means  deficient  in  personal  independence,  the  first 
emotion  toward  what  is  American  is  contempt,  the  first  emo 
tion  toward  whatever  proceeds  from  that  nation  of  Europe,  to 
\vhich  they  happen  to  be  most  attached,  is  reverence  and  ad 
miration.  If  a  custom,  production,  or  institution  be  Ame 
rican,  it  costs  them  an  effort  to  approve ;  but  if  foreign,  they 
submit  to  it  with  implicit  faith.  They  depreciate  not  only 
the  politics,  literature,  science  and  language,  but  the  morals, 
manners,  and  state  of  society,  according  to  the  reduced  scale 
of  foreign  detraction.  But  this  is  not  the  spirit  of  the  people, 
but  of  those  small  sections,  who  claim  to  be  their  betters.  A 
servile  postponement  of  their  own  natural  and  manly  habits  to 
the  most  preposterous  European  usages,  a  thirst  after  the 
company  and  alliance  of  foreigners  in  preference  to  their  own 
countrymen,  an  affected  reluctance  to  live  and  die  where 
they  were  born,  are  some  of  the  symptoms  of  this  miserable 
disease,  infinitely  more  miserable  and  less  pardonable  than  its 
opposite  la  maladie  du  pays.  A  state  of  society  in  the  meri 
dian  of  refinement  and  virtue,  midway  between  simplicity  and 
corruption ;  gay  and  polite,  without  being  profligate ;  shed 
ding  the  selectest  influence  of  domestic  comfort  and  public 
tranquillity  ;  to  the  eye  of  depravity  may  present  but  a  home 
ly  and  insipid  scene  ;  but  to  such  as  love  manly  employment 
and  rational  recreation,  is  an  enviable  state,  whose  unequalled 
blessings  they  do  not  deserve  to  partake,  who  are  not  grate 
ful  for  being  born  in  the  country  where  they  flourish.  Sen 
timents  of  repugnance  in  the  natives  of  such  a  country  are 
only  tolerable,  while  they  remain  passive  and  latent.  When 
ever  they  break  out  into  declared  opposition,  they  become 
obnoxious  to  detestation  and  punishment.  Such  as  eannot 
subdue  them,  are  to  be  pitied  ;  such  as  encourage  them,  ab* 


145 

feligious  creeds,  and  the  universal  sensation  of  im 
provement  and  increase,  naturally  concur  to  the  con- 
stitution  of  a  well  informed,  ardent,  enthusiastic,  en- 
terprising  and  licentious  people.  Where  every  man 
is  a  citizen,  every  citizen  a  freeholder,  able  and  al 
lowed  to  think,  speak,  and  act  for  himself,  the  empire 
of  opinion  must  be  omnipotent :  and  it  is  impossible 
that  a  free  and  thinking  people  can  be  without  a  cha- 

horred.  They  are  guilty  of  the  most  fatal  species  of  treason-— 
not  that  which  boldly  devotes  a  country  to  stratagem,  blood 
and  destruction — but  that  more  insidious  and  more  certain 
hostility,  which  flows  in  unseen  perennial  channels,  traducing, 
betraying  and  assassinating.  Of  such  as  these  there  can  be, 
I  trust,  but  few  in  this  happy  country. — Wretches,  who  have 
no  God,  household,  or  supreme-— the  creeping  things  of  the 
earth,  who  feed  on  the  offals  of  foreigners — who  lick  the  foot 
that  tramples  on  them — who  are  despised  by  all  others,  even 
those  they  worship,  and  must  despise  themselves. 

Breathes  there  the  man,  with  soul  so  dead, 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said 

This  is  my  own,  my  native  land  ! 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burned, 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned, 

From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand  I 
If  such  there  breathe,  go,  mark  him  well ; 
For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  swell ; 
High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  name, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claim ; 
Despite  those  titles,  power  and  pelf, 
The  wretch,  concentred  all  in  self, 
Living,  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And,  dgubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust,  from  whence  he  sprung. 
Unwept,  unhonoured,  and  unsung. 
T 


146 

racter.  Enterprise,  public  spirit,  intelligence,  faction 
and  love  of  country  are  natural  to  such  a  people.  No 
series  of  ages  is  requisite  to  form  or  consolidate  their 
character.  At  the  earliest  date  the  legend  is  most  de 
cided  ;  and  though  it  may  be  aggravated,  is  seldom 
improved  by  years  or  refinements. 

Wherever  we  find  foreign  commerce,  there  also 
we  find  polished  manners.*  It  is  commerce  that 
harmonizes  the  intercourse  and  dissipates  the  preju 
dices  of  nations ;  softens  their  native  peculiarities,  and 
approximates  their  national  characters  to  , one  com 
mon  standard. t  Commerce,  and  trade,  and  manufac 
tures,  grew  under  the  same  shade  in  which  learning 
flourished.  J 

Such  opinions,  from  such  authority,  are  unanswer 
able.  It  is  to  North  America  only  that  their  justice 
is  denied.  In  Europe  at  least  it  is  a  prevailing  notion 
to  associate  the  commercial  habits  of  the  United 
States,  with  sordid  fraud,  a  distaste  for  noble  pur 
suits,  and  a  dread  of  war :  and  the  Americans  have 
incurred  the  odium  and  contempt,  which  will  be  the 
lot  of  any  nation  that  is  considered  by  others  to  be 
tame,  mercenary  and  base-spirited.  But  the  polic) 
of  the  government  has  been  mistaken  for  the  genius 
of  the  people.  Alert,  impetuous,  alive  to  news  anc 
public  discussions,  the  vibrations  of  popular  sym 
pathies  are  in  no  country  so  rapid  and  pervading 

*Montesq.  Esp.  des  Loix,  I.  20.  c.  1. 

t  Robert.  Charles  V.  vol.  1.  s.  1.  p.  97. 

J  Burke's  Reflect,  on  the  French  Rev.  p.  115, 


147 

As  individuals,  and  as  a  community,  they  have  ex 
hibited  and  continue  to  exhibit  every  day,  the  most 
decided  proofs  of  courage  and  impetuosity. 

The  appeal  to  duels  for  the  decision   of  private 
disputes  is  more  frequent  in  the  United  States  than 
in  any  other  country  whatever :  and  these  private 
combats  are  conducted  with  a  scientific  ferociousness, 
and  terminate  in  general  with   a  fatality  unknown 
elsewhere.     The  severest  statutes  have  in  vain  point 
ed  their  artillery  against  this  chivalric  custom,  which 
seems  to  be  inveterate  among  impassioned  and  opini- 
ated  freemen.     It  is  certain  that  men  have  become 
less  free,  less  courageous,  less  disposed  for  great  en- 
terprises,  than  they  were  in  the  days  of  Rome  and  of 
suicide,  when,  as  Montesquieu  expresses  it,  they  ap 
pear  to  have  been  born  with  a  greater  aptitude  for 
heroism,*  and  by  exerting  this  inconceivable  power 
over  themselves,  could  bid  defiance  to  all  other  hu 
man  power.     The  modern  duel  is  an  offspring  of  this 
heathen  sacrifice,  in  which  similar  causes  lead  to  nearly 
the  same  effect.     The  prevalence  of  the  Catonis  no- 
bile  lethum  of  the  Romans  may  not  be  an  evidence 
of  their  good  sense  or  their  fortitude ;  nor  the  fre 
quency  of  fatal  duels  in  this  country  of  the  superior 
bravery  of  its    inhabitants.     But  they  prove  at  least 
the  sensibility  of  both  to  that  romantic  and  inexpli 
cable  point  of  honour,  which,  however  indefensible 
its  votaries  may  be  in  the  eyes  of  both  God  and  ra 
tional  man,  has  ever  been  a  shrine  sacred  to  the  brave 
and  high  minded. 

*  Montesq.  Grand,  et  Decad.  c.  12.  p.  134. 


148 

As  a  community,  the  Americans  have  always 
shown  themselves  no  less  forward,  than  as  indivi 
duals,  to  face  their  enemies  and  aggressors.  In 
most  countries  it  is  the  government  that  provokes, 
declares  and  maintains  wars.  But  the  United  States 
have  exhibited  continual  struggles  between  the 
government  and  the  people,  in  which  the  latter  have 
been  clamorous  for  hostilities,  at  one  time  with  one 
foreign  power,  at  another  time  with  another,  while 
all  the  influence  and  forbearance  of  their  rulers  has 
been  exercised  to  restrain  this  martial  intoxication. 
The  revolution  was  lighted  up  by  a  national  instinct 
for  independence,  called  early  into  action  by  the  al 
lurements  of  liberty  and  republicanism ;  when  cer*. 
tainly  no  incapacity  for  war  was  evinced.  How  illus 
trious  indeed  should  the  conduct  and  terminati6n  of 
that  contest  render  the  Americans,  when  contrasted 
with  the  pusillanimous  facility  with  which  the  most 
compact  and  warlike  nations  of  Europe  have  lately 
fallen  under  the  arms  of  their  invaders  !  The  Ameri 
can  colonies  would  not  have  ventured  a  war  single- 
handed  with  the  first  maritime  power  of  the  world, 
about  a  trifling  tax  on  tea,  had  not  that  military  im 
pulse,  which  inflamed  alike  the  sturdy  east,  and  the 
impatient  south,  prompted  them  to  unite  for  the  as 
sertion  of  their  independence.  It  was  not  oppression 
that  goaded  them  upon  emancipation.  But  their  in 
stinct  for  liberty  :  as  the  author  of  their  epic,  with  his 
peculiar  propriety  of  expression,  describes  their  feel 
ings  at  the  time, 

"  Fame  ftr'd  their  courage,  freedom  edg'd  their  swords." 


149 

A  long  interval  of  profound  tranquillity  and  mul 
tiplied  commerce  may  have  tarnished  the  fame,  per 
haps  relaxed  somewhat  the  tone  of  this  people.  But 
it  was  the  government,  not  the  nation,  who  com 
promised  with  endurance  for  emolument;  and  the 
same  spirit  which  was  once  displayed,  is  still  ready 
to  show  itself  when  summoned  into  action.  The 
same  valour,  good  faith,  clemency  and  patriotism 
still  animate  the  bosoms  of  America,  as  the  first  burst 
of  their  hostilities,  whenever  it  takes  placr,  will  con 
vince  their  calumniators. 

Legitimate  commerce,  instead  of  demoralizing  or 
debasing  a  community,  refines  its  sentiments,  mul 
tiplies  its  intelligence,  and  sharpens  its  ingenuity. 
Where  are  the  evidences  to  the  contrary  in  this  coun 
try  ? — The  Americans,  far  from  being  a  sordid  or 
venal,  are  not  even  a  thrifty  people.  Subsistence  is 
so  easy,  and  competency  so  common,  that  those  nic*: 
calculations  of  domestic  economy  which  are  a  branch 
almost  of  education  in  Europe,  are  scarcely  attended 
to  in  America ;  and  that  long,  disgusting  catalogue 
of  petty  offences,  through  which  the  lower  classes  of 
other  nations  are  driven  by  indigence  and  wretched 
ness,  has  hardly  an  existence  here,  though  death  is 
almost  proscribed  from  the  penal  code.  Native  Ame 
ricans  are  very  seldom  to  be  met  with  in  menial  or  the 
laborious  occupations,  which  are  filled  by  blacks  and 
foreigners,  mostly  Europeans,  who  are  also  the  com 
mon  perpetrators  of  the  smaller  crimes  alluded  to. 
Though  the  government  is  supported  by  the  cus 
toms,  and  the  punishments  for  their  contra vendor* 
are  merely  pecuniary,  yet  such  delinquencies  are  infi- 
nitely  less  frequent  than  in  Eurooe  or  even  Asia.  Tk". 


1*0 

salaries  of  the  public  officers  are  very  inconsiderable  : 
yet  *  malversation  is  a  crime  of  rare  occurrence  ;  and 
that  essential  venality,  which  pervades  almost  every 
department  of  government  in  other  countries,  is  al 
together  unpractised  in  this. 

In  their  foreign  traffic  the  Americans  have  been  ex 
posed  to  all  the  contumelious  indignities  which  supe 
rior  power  and  rapacity  could  inflict.  But  have  the 
accusations  charged  upon  them  been  substantiated  ? 
When  a  young  and  unarmed  people  have  no  other 
reliance  for  their  advancement  than  their  industry  and 
acuteness,  and  nevertheless,  owing  to  these  and  their 
territorial  advantages,  succeed  against  the  jealous  re 
strictions  and  overwhelming  maritime  strength  ol 
older  states,  it  is  as  natural  for  the  latter  to  stigmatize 
them  with  dishonesty  and  encroachment,  as  it  was 
for  Rome,  when  Carthage  was  half  subdued,  to  pro 
claim  the  instability  of  Punic  faith.  But  the  charge 
contradicts  itself:  for  how  could  the  Americans 
pursue  a  successful  and  augmenting  commerce,  if  their 
frauds  were  as  numerous  as  they  are  declared  to  be, 
after  the  whole  world  are  put  on  their  guard,  and  in 
arms,  to  suppress  them  ?  The  American  merchant 
can  have  no  other  convoy  than  his  neutrality  and  fair 
ness  :  and  if  he  have  common  sense,  must  perceive 
that  honesty  is  his  only  policy.  The  unfairness  with 
which  the  trade  of  these  states  is  charged,  is  ascriba- 
ble,  not  to  the  American,  but  to  the  many  desperate 
foreigners,  who  assume  a  neutralized  citizenship  for 
the  designs  of  dishonest  speculation,  and  in  too  many 
instances  abuse  the  privilege  by  simulation  and  ini 
quity. 

1 


151 

While  universal  occupation,  agricultural,  mercan 
tile  and  professional,  imbues  society  with  its  spirit  of 
punctuality  and  exactitude,  poverty  does  not  vitiate 
the  lower,  nor  profligacy  distinguish  the  higher 
classes.  The  laws  of  honour,  as  we  have  seen,  have 
been  adopted  in  their  fullest  rigour ;  and  infractions 
of  good  faith  or  propriety  are  liable  to  the  loss  of 
character,  of  fortune,  and  of  life  itself:  nor  is  there 
any  community,  among  whom  the  temptations  to  de 
basement  are  less  powerful,  or  where  the  laws  and 
morals  combine  to  oppose  a  more  effectual  restraint 
on  those  crimes  that  cause  it. 

5.  A  view  of  the  resources  and  prospects  of  the 
United  States   necessarily  involves  some  considera 
tion  of  that  commercial  capacity,  by  which  they  are 
connected,  as  regards  their  intercourse  with  the  rest 
of  the  world,  and  as  it  affects  them  with  the  policy 
and  revolutions  of  other  great    commercial  empires. 
I  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  trade  does  not  im 
poverish,  deteriorate  or  demoralize.    But  this  must  be 
understood  with  reference  to  spontaneous  trade,  the 
offspring  of  superfluous  agriculture,  or  superior  arts. 
The  commerce  which   furnishes  a  national  revenue, 
which  cultivates  an  inexhaustible  territory,  and  may 
at  any  moment   be  modified  or  suspended   with  no 
heavier  grievance   than  a  temporary  deprivation  of 
-profit,    should  not    be  confounded  with  that  exotic 
traffic,  for  whose  products  a  nation  neglects  its  agri 
culture,  which  is  protected  by  navies  that  cost  eter 
nal  wars,  and  impoverishes  the  people  that  it  may  mag 
nify  the  state.     It  is  natural  for  an  exuberant  country 
to  throw  oft'  its  annual  superfluities,  whose  revenue  is 


152 

the  harvest  of  the  river,  and  who  is  a  mart  of  nations  ; 
but  it  is  as  unnatural  as  fatal  to  stretch  every  sinew 
till  it  cracks,  in  commercial  efforts. 

With  the  benignant  influence  of  free  trade,  nothing 
is  more  militant  than  the  baneful  spirit  of  monopoly. 
The  latter,  like  all  other  systems  founded  on  injus 
tice,  is  of  temporary  advantage  and  ultimate  ruin  to 
its  supporters.     A  warlike  nation  may  extend  their 
dominion  by  arms,  in  defiance  of  the  opposition  of 
others.      But    commercial   aggrandizement   to   the 
prejudice  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  attempted  by  any 
one  people,  is  a  position  that  cannot  possibly  be  long 
maintained.     Exclusive  restrictions,  with  whatsoever 
art  and  power  fortified,  may   for  a  time  attract  an 
excessive  proportion  of  traffic  and  grandeur  to  any 
particular  state  ;  but  they  inevitably  draw  upon  it,  at 
the  same  time,  the  jealousy  and  hostility  of  all  others. 
It  is  the  fate  of  national  monopolies  that  by  the  time 
they  have  completely  succeeded,  the  whole  world  is  in 
league  to  beat  them  down ;  and  the  state  which  wa 
ges  war  for  their  perpetuation,  must  either  surrender 
them  when  they  are  most  productive,  or  sink  at  last, 
exhausted  by   its  own  exertions,  overcome  by  its 
multiplied  enemies.     Independent  of  the  reasoning 
that  suggests  itself  in  support  of  this  opinion  from 
the  common  operation  of  cause  to  effect,  an  historical 
examination  of  monopolies,  as  they  have  been  succes 
sively  attempted  by  different  empires,  will  show  that 
there  is  scarcely  one,  which,  after  a  short  and  spe 
cious  show  of  greatness,  has  not  recoiled  destructive, 
ly  on  its  contrivers.  Venice,  Portugal,  Holland,  Spain 
and  England  are  fatal  testimonies  of  the  disaster  and 


153 

destruction,  in  which  these  flattering  expedients  must 
terminate.  England  indeed  is  still  a  great  power : 
but  however  successfully  she  may  resist  subjugation, 
it  is  impossible  she  can  hold  for  ever  the  pretensions 
she  sets  up  against  all  the  world.  The  cruel  impoli 
cy  of  the  Spanish  commercial  system  was  long  ex 
emplified  in  the  impoverishment  and  decline  of  the 
peninsula,  and  the  ignorance  and  retardment  of  South 
America.  And  Spain  is  now  undergoing  the  results  of 
her  parsimonious  sequestration  of  those  immense  re* 
sources,  which,  under  proper  government,  would  have 
enriched  and  made  happy  all  her  extended  re  alms . 
Smuggling,  contraband,  blockades,  searches,  are  the 
immediate  offspring  of  monopoly.  Commercial  frauds 
increase  in  proportion  to  the  belligerent  prohibitions 
opposed  to  them.  Simulation  on  the  one  hand  be 
comes  as  indispensable  as  rapine  on  the  other,  till  at 
last  the  maritime  intercourse  of  states  will  become  so 
distorted,  as  to  exhibit  one  universal  scene  of  tolera 
ted  piracy. 

A  war  for  commerce  destroys  the  very  object  it  is 
waged  to  maintain.  Europe  has  been  drenched  in 
desolation  for  commercial  advantages,  which  have 
taken  refuge  in  the  pacific  policy  of  the  United 
States.  While  the  incalculable  resources  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  South  America,  re 
main  unemployed,  the  dreadful  havoc  that  has  been 
committed  during  the  last  20  years  for  the  produce 
of  a  West- India  island,  or  a  little  carrying  or  colonial 
trade,  is  an  awful  rebuke  to  the  boasted  scientific 
and  geographical  improvements  of  modern  times. 
Three  fourths  of  the  globe,  and  all  their  superfluities 


154 

are  scarcely  known  to  the  remaining  fourth,  which, 
with  the  lights  of  pre-eminent  civilization,  is  wasting 
itself  in  wars  for  the  comparatively  inconsiderable  re 
mainder.  The  richest  regions  of  the  most  extensive 
quarters  of  the  globe  are  suffered  to  lie  unexplored, 
while  every  endeavour  is  making  to  limit  and  prevent 
the  extension  of  that  commerce,  which  would  bring 
the  whole  into  active  beneficence.  Millions  of  lives 
have  been  uselessly  and  wickedly  sacrificed,  millions 
of  happy  and  industrious  beings  thrown  out  of  em 
ployment  into  idleness  and  want,  millions  of  irre 
deemable  debts  contracted,  all  the  pernicious  conse 
quences  of  using  men  to  unjust  laws  and  rapacious 
avocations  incurred,  and  military  despotisms  made 
more  common  and  tremendous  than  they  were  in  the 
dark  ages,  by  the  infatuation  which  would  establish 
national  greatness  on  the  perverted  and  tottering 
basis  of  navigation  projects  of  exclusive  aggrandize- 
ment. 

Fortunately  for  America,  and  for  the  world  in  ge 
neral,  this  state  of  things  is  not  ascribable  to  the 
spirit  of  trade,  but  to  the  delusion  of  monopolists ; 
and  many  indications  appear  of  its  approaching  dis^ 
solution.  It  is  probable  that  before  the  lapse  of  halt 
a  century  mankind  will  look  back  with  wonder  and 
contempt  to  the  narrow  confines  of  that  traffic,  they 
are  now  destroying  each  other  to  restrain.  We  do 
not  recur  with  more  scorn  to  the  awe  with  which  the 
ancients  regarded  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  as  the 
ultimate  verge  of  the  earth,  than  a  succeeding,  and 
probably  the  next,  generation  will  to  our  strife  for 
objects  of  such  inferior  moment,  while  others  of  in- 


155 

finitely  greater  magnitude  were  within  our  attainment. 
The  ancients  were  withheld  by  an  ignorance  of  those 
scientific  discoveries,  that  have  enabled  the  present 
race  to  traverse  the  remotest  latitudes.  But  the  lat 
ter  are  blinded  by  the  common  fatuity  of  avarice, 
which  destroys  lest  others  might  possess. 

Commerce,  as  thus  permitted,  is  a  pestilence  and 
a  scourge.  We  can  hardly  presume  to  despise  the 
Chinese,  while  their  impenetrable  isolation  shuts  out 
the  wars,  as  well  as  the  arts,  of  more  refined  com 
munities.  But  when  it  shall  embrace  the  round  of 
nations  in  a  general  commercial  pacification,  founded, 
not  so  much  in  treaties,  as  in  those  primordial  princi 
ples  of  mutual  convenience,  which  constitute  the  only 
permanent  basis  of  national  intercourse,  the  barba 
rous  and  the  civilized  will  alike  have  reason  to  re- 
joice. 

It  seems  probable  that  an  entire  change  in  the  com 
mercial  machinery  of  the  globe  is  at  hand.  Without 
a  particular  reference  to  the  policy  or  the  power  of  any 
one  state,  it  is  evident  that  so  many  have  been  driven 
to  a  due  appreciation  of  the  advantages  of  foreign 
trade,  that  they  must  finally  compel  a  relinquishment 
of  its  monopoly  by  any  one.  The  fourth  dynasty 
of  France  may  be  precarious ;  but  the  impulse  and 
policy  it  has  originated  will  continue.  In  the  north 
of  Europe  a  great  empire,  and  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic  a  powerful  republic,  are  yet  but  developing 
those  resources  and  principles,  every  eftbrt  of  which 
will  be  directed,  by  a  natural  concert,  infinitely 
stronger  than  any  national  compact,  to  the  removal  of 
ill  obstacles  to  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 


156 

Whenever  this  is  accomplished,  the  uttermost 
ends  of  the  earth  will  be  unlocked  to  the  researches 
of  Christianity  and  civilization.  They  will  unbar 
the  crowded  regions  of  China  and  India,  knock  off 
the  golden  fetters  of  South  America,  and  penetrate 
the  almost  fabulous  regions  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 
We  shall  be  amazed  to  find  that  more  than  one  half  of 
the  globe  has  been  shut  out  from  the  benefit  of  com 
mercial  intercourse  with  the  other,  not  by  oceans  and 
mountains,  but  by  the  perverse  and  sanguinary  usur^ 
pation  of  monopolies.  The  wars,  the  frauds,  the 
wretchedness,  the  demoralization,  which  have  been 
falsely  ascribed  to  the  magnitude  of  trade,  will  ap 
pear  to  have  proceeded  from  its  restriction,  and  will 
disappear  with  the  removal  of  their  causes.  The 
great  source  of  bloodshed  will  be  dried  up;  and, 
under  the  auspices  of  universal  peace,  ten  thousand 
times  the  traffic,  for  which  so  many  climes  have  been 
ravaged,  will  cover  every  sea,  connecting  and  ame 
liorating  all  nations. 

As  the  United  States  of  America  will  have  been 
among  the  principal  promoters  of  this  general  ame 
lioration,  so  will  they  be  one  of  its  largest  parta 
kers.  For  whatever  may  be  thought  of  their  national 
character  or  legislation,  that  they  are  eminently  situ 
ated  to  become  a  great  commercial  people  can  hardly 
be  denied.  The  extent  and  variety  of  their  territo 
ries,  the  fruitfulness  of  their  different  soils,  the  pro 
digious  structure  of  their  internal  navigation  by 
means  of  the  immense  lakes  and  western  waters,  the 
reciprocal  dependence  of  the  different  parts  of  the 

continent  on  each  other,  the  capacity  of  all  parts  to 
1 


157 

supply  other  countries  with  those  superfluities  they 
require,  their  remoteness  and  natural  protection  from 
the  only  powers  that  can  injure  them,  their  industry, 
freedom  and  affluence,  insure  a  rapid  augmentation  of 
population,  strength  and  prosperity. 

Should  the  great  events  transacting  in  Europe  lead 
to  the  independence  of  South  America,  new  and  in- 
calculable  advantages  must  accrue  to  both  these  por 
tions  of  the  western  world.  A  vast  natural  alliance 
might  be  formed,  capable  of  plans  the  most  glorious 
and  beneficial ;  an  alliance  that  may  set  Europe  at  de 
fiance. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  an  eloquent  and  philanthropic 
historian,*  after  considering  the  situation  and  pros 
pects  of  this  country,  "  that  the  only  way  to  prevent 
disturbances  among  the  people  would  be  to  leave 
upon  their  frontiers  a  powerful  rival,  always  disposed 
to  avail  himself  of  their  dissensions.  Peace  and  se 
curity,  says  he,  are  necessary  for  monarchies;  agi 
tation  and  a  formidable  enemy  for  republics.  Rome 
stood  in  need  of  Carthage,  Venice,  perhaps,  would 
have  lost  her  government  and  her  laws  four  hun 
dred  years  ago,  had  she  not  at  her  gates,  and  almost 
under  her  walls,  powerful  neighbours,  who  might 
become  her  enemies  or  her  masters."  In  like  man- 
ner,  the  Romans,  says  one  of  their  most  judicious 
writers,  were  free  from  faction  and  vice,  while  they 
had  to  make  head  against  hostile  neighbours  :  mctus 
civilis  in  bonis  artibus  civitatem  retmebat.  And  where  a 
population  is  so  dispersed  as  that  of  America,  foreign 

*  RaynaL 


158 

pressure  certainly  contributes  to  the  tone  of  the  na 
tional  character  and  exertions. 

But  the  speculations  of  statesmen  and  historians, 
the  wisdom  and  experience  of  ages,  the  opinions  of 
antiquity,  the  prejudices  that  were  planted  in  our  ve 
neration,  have  all  been  swept  away  by  the  torrent  of 
revolution  and  war  that  has  lately  rushed  over  the  na 
tions  of  Europe.  The  "  temperate  and  undecisive 
contests,"*  which,  it  was  foretold,  would  long  pre 
serve  the  many  balanced  sovereignties  of  that  conti 
nent,  have  been  superseded  by  a  warfare  more  furious 
and  overwhelming  than  had  been  supposed  possible. 
New  and  bolder  ideas  of  government  and  of  tactics 
will  prevail  hereafter;  and  the  American  republic 
must  endeavour  to  keep  pace  with  the  genius  of  the 
age,  or  sink  under  its  expansion.  It  must  not  be  for 
gotten,  that  as  business  is  transacted  for  the  attain 
ment  of  pleasure,  so  occasional  wars  are  necessary  to 
the  security  and  permanency  of  peace.  As  long  as 
a  people  refrain  from  offensive  hostilities,  a  military 
genius  is  an  attribute  deserving  encouragement ;  and 
It  is  especially  the  interest  of  the  United  States  to  cul 
tivate  so  much  of  a  warlike  spirit,  as  may  not  be  in 
compatible  with  their  republican  institutions.  They 
are  not  in  a  situation  to  desire  conquests.  Their  ter 
ritories  rather  need  concentration  than  acquisitions. 
The  seat  of  government  is  so  remote  from  the  scene 
where  armies  would  be  required,  that  the  republic 
has  little  to  fear  from  the  ambition  of  commanders. 
And  despotism  is  less  to  be  dreaded  from  the  regular 
maintenance  of  a  suitable  establishment,  than  from 
its  sudden  creation,  in  case  of  emergency,  when  die- 
*  Gibbon's  Rom.  Emp.  vol.  6,  p.  415, 


159 

tatorial  powers  are  almost  indispensable.     Every  ge 
neral  may  not  have  the  integrity  of  Washington, 

In  a  most  important  respect  the  American  repub 
lic  has  a  vast  advantage  over  all  others  that  have  pre 
ceded  it;  that  is,  in  the  extent  of  dominion,  apid 
dispersion  of  population.     Athens,  Rome,  Venice, 
Carthage,    most  of    the  republics  that   have  been, 
were  at  first  confined  almost  to  a  single  city,  and  al 
ways  entirely  influenced  by  the  capital.     So  that  pre- 
torian  guards,  or  ambitious  men,  by  mastering  the 
head,  were  sure  of  the  extremities.     But  the  same 
danger  does  not  exist  here.     And  as  long  as  Canada 
and  Louisiana  remain  even  virtually  under  foreign  in 
fluence,  the  same  or  a  greater  inducement  exists  for 
maintaining  that  most  dignified  of  all  national  atti 
tudes,  the  armed  neutrality  of  a  powerful  republic. 
A  military  despotism,  whether  monarchical  or  repub 
lican,  is  the  most  odious  and  oppressive,  the  most 
disgraceful  and  destructive  form  of  polity.     In  fact 
it  is  not  a  form,  but  a  subversion  of  government, 
which,  after  destroying  every  thing  else,  at  kst  de 
stroys  itself.     It  is  a  colossus,  which  falls  as  soon 
as  its  arm  is  no  longer  uplifted ;  from   whose  ruins 
petty  tyrannies  spring  up  ;  whose  slaves  are  not  en 
titled  to  enjoy  till  they  assert  the  immunities  of  men, 
and  which  does  not  become  a  government  till  the  su 
premacy  of  the    law  is  re-established.     But  a  domi 
nant  republican  empire,  with  military  force  enough  to 
defend  its  rights,  without  so  much  as  to  instigate  ar? 
ambition  to    subvert   them ;    just    and  respectable 
abroad,  free  and  just  at  home  ;  forms  the  most  glc 
rious  consummation  of  national  prosperity. 


160 

'Lastly,  have  the  United  States  of  America  re 
sources  for  this  attitude  ?  Their  resources  have  been? 
if  possible,  more  underrated  than  their  character. 
Their  population  now  falls  but  little  short  of  ten  mil- 
lions.  With  an  inexhaustible  territorial  fund  of 
wealth,  without  debts  or  taxation,  with  every  abun 
dance  of  munition  and  requisite  for  war,  they  have  a 
greater  strength  in  men  with  arms  in  their  hands,  than 
the  Roman  empire  ever  maintained  at  any  one  time^ 
than  the  force  with  which  Louis  XIV.  terrified  all  the 
powers  of  Europe  combined,  or  with  which  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough  and  his  auxiliaries  drove  Louis  XIV. 
into  the  recesses  of  his  palace.  A  militia  of  six  hun 
dred  thousand  men,  undisciplined  indeed,  unofficer- 
ed,  and  uninured  to  the  tactics  and  hardships  of  a 
state  of  hostility,  but  hardy,  athletic,  adroit,  and  in 
vincibly  attached  to  their  country  and  its  liberties, 
are  the  raw  materials  at  least  for  forming  a  formidable 
barrier  to  invasion.  Much  of  the  contumelious  ag 
gression  the  Americans  have  experienced  from  the 
European  belligerents,  is  ascribable  to  their  reliance 
on  the  defenceless  and  unprepared  posture  of  this 
country.*  But  a  free  and  martial  people,  accustomed 

*  The  American  navy  is  at  once  the  glory  and  the  shame  of 
the  American  nation :  the  nursery  of  its  martial  genius,  the 
chancery  of  its  fame,  the  vestal  guard  of  that  spark,  which  how 
ever  it  may  fade  or  darkle,  can  never  expire  without  carry- 
Ing  with  it  all  that  ennobles,  embodies  and  preserves  a  people. 
Among  so  small  a  number  of  individuals  as  compose  the 
officers  of  this  little  navy,  never  did  nor  does  there  exist  a 
more  glorious  spirit  of  chivalnc  valour  and  enterprise,  supe 
rior  nautical  skill,  and  proficiency,  discipline,  subordination 
and  concert  in  time  of  service,  more  gentleman-like  deport- 


161 

to  the  use  of  arms,  from  whom  the  riflemen  and 
sharp  shooters  that  have  become  the  most  efficacious 
divisions  of  the  armies  of  Europe,  learned  their 
manual,  can  never  be  totally  unprepared  for  war. 

ment,  urbanity  and  unexceptionable  conduct  in  society.  There 
is  no  body  of  men  so  well  deserving  to  be  entitled  the  flower 
of  the  country.  But  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  has  drench 
ed  their  laurels  with  more  ignominy  than  all  the  waters  of 
the  Chesapeake  can  wash  out :  not  only  those  implicated  in 
that  indelibly  shameful  transaction — but  every  officer  in  the 
navy— nay,  every  individual  in  the  nation — and  above  all,  the 
nation  itself,  still  smarting  unrevenged  under  such  an  inflic 
tion.  Blood,  blood  alone  can  wash  out  that  stain.  An  occa 
sion,  presenting  itself,  as  if  on  purpose,  to  signalize  their 
courage  and  capacity,  which  might  have  been  the  means  oif 
wiping  off,  in  one  memorable  hour,  all  the  aspersions  flung 
from  all  quarters  on  the  national  reputation,  and  of  stamping 
their  name  in  the  foremost  file  of  courageous  people,  was 
suffered  to  sound  the  tocsin  of  their  disgrace,  carrying 
through  all  regions  the  lugubrious  reverberations  of  then- 
cowardice  and  incapacity. 

If  it  were  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  contradict  and  repel 
the  foul  consequences  all  the  world  must  infer  from  this 
unspeakably  infamous  discomfiture,  the  American  nation 
should  apply  all  their  zeal  and  efforts  to  the  immense  re 
sources  they  enjoy  for  creating  a  respectable,  a  formidable 
navy — not  such  a  navy  as  might  alarm  the  jealous  dominion 
of  other  powers— a  navy  of  ships  of  the  line— but  such  a  navy 
as  might  serve  to  convoy  and  protect  their  universal  com 
merce,  preventing  those  infinite  petty  impositions  and  larce 
nies,  that  are  perpetual  provocations,  without  even  being- 
sufficient  motives  to  war,  as  would  render  it  always  unneces 
sary  to  arm  their  merchant  ships,  thus  putting  arms  into  the 
hands  of  the  inexperienced,  rash  and  interested,  as  might  at 
a  moment's  warning  be  ready  to  sweep  the  commerce  of  their 
enemies  from  every  sea,  as  would  serve  to  guard  their  cr 


162 

Difficulties  and  enthusiasm  have  already  made  offi 
cers  in  America,  and  may  again ;  and  officers  can 
make  soldiers. 

Like  the  vast  wastes  that  were  kept  as  a  frontier 
by  the  ancient  Gauls,  the  Atlantic  ocean  forms  a 
perpetual  natural  protection  of  America  from  the  in- 

from  daily  insult  and  aggression,  and  their  national  character 
from  habitual  degradation — a  navy  of  numerous,  swift  sailing, 
well  appointed  frigates. 

If  the  expense  of  such  an  armament  be  objected  to,  I 
would  ask  what  can  be  too  expensive  for  the  immense  re 
sources  of  this  country,  hitherto  not  half  developed,  and  hus 
banded  with  miserlike  timidity  ?  If  the  risk  of  war,  what  is 
the  end  of  deferring,  of  buying  off,  of  bartering  honour,  right, 
property,  every  thing  for  procrastination  and  reprieve  ?  War 
must  come  with  power — and  destruction  must  follow,  unless 
some  preparation  be  on  foot  for  the  exigency. 

While  the  rage  of  innovation  lasts,  this  visionary  self-aban 
donment  may  endure.  But  whenever  the  policy  of  the  coun 
try  shall  be  settled,  a  navy  must  enter  into,  and  constitute  & 
principal  part  of  that  policy.  It  is  indispensable.  The  power, 
the  resources,  the  sources  of  subsistence,  the  honour,  the 
character,  the  national  existence  of  the  American  nation  call 
aloud  for  this  safeguard. 

A  navy  of  frigates  would  have  effectually  enforced  the 
embargo :  nor  can  the  ordinary  revenue  laws  of  the  United 
States  be  sustained  without  one.  When,  if  ever,  peace  shall 
return  in  Europe,  the  ocean  will  swarm  with  pirates — in  fact 
it  does  now — with  little  cockboat  marauders — but  at  the  re 
turn  of  peace,  bucaniers  and  Blackbeards  will  infest  every 
ocean  and  ransack  every  sail.  No  commerce  will  be  safe 
without  a  navy  to  protect  it :  and  the  Americans  must  sub 
mit  to  be  robbed  and  plundered,  burned,  sunk  and  destroyed 
in  every  latitude,  or  to  be  convoyed  by  the  English,  or  some 
other  friendly  power,  which  will  excite  more  jealousies,  and 
prove  in  the  end  more  expensive,  than  a  navy  of  their  own 


163 

vasions  of  Europe ;  a  barrier  sufficient  in  itself  at 
present,  while  the  only  power  that  could  become  an 
invader  is  unable  to  keep  the  sea,  which  is  ruled  by 
a  power  unable  to  invade.  At  no  distant  day  the 
stationary  strength  of  Europe  may  be  counterpoised 
by  the  increased  strength  of  America  ;  and  the  cur- 
rent  of  irruption,  which  for  so  many  thousand  years 
has  proceeded  from  east  to  west,  having  reached  the 
limits  of  its  action,  may  recoil,  and  trace  back  its 
steps  from  the  populous  and  mighty  west  to  the  re 
duced  and  prostrate  east. 

From  commercial  depredations  the  United  States 
may  not,  for  some  years,  be  exempt.  But  their  pre 
sent  ability  is  more  than  a  match  for  any  force  that 
can  be  sent  over  sea  for  their  invasion.  In  both  an 
cient  and  modern  times,  large  military  expeditions, 
which  depended  on  naval  cooperation,  have  almost 
always  been  unsuccessful.  As  they  exhaust  the  na 
tion  that  assembles  them,  it  is  impossible  to  repair 
disasters  by  fresh  succour.  If  any  one  part  be  lost 
or  destroyed,  the  others  being  more  or  less  depend 
ent  upon  each  other,  cannot  act  thus  mutilated.  The 
unavoidable  slowness  of  such  enterprises  gives  an 
opportunity  for  preparation  to  the  other  party.  And 
tempests  of  the  sea  are  perils  of  daily  occurrence  and 
insurmountable  difficulty.  Admitting,  however,  that 
by  an  uncommon  coincidence  of  fortunate  accidents, 
an  invasion  were  effected,  and  that  all  North  America 
might  be  overrun  by  an  experienced,  well  appointed 
army,  it  would  nevertheless  be  impossible  to  over- 
come  the  inhabitants,  or  reconcile  them  to  a  yoke. 
The  means  of  escape,  of  subsistence,  and  of  sove- 


164 

reignty,  are  without  bounds,  and  no  force  or  priva 
tion  that  an  enemy  could  apply,  would  force  a  sub- 
mission.  War  might  ravage  their  fields,  conflagrate 
their  villages,  sack  their  towns,  and  slaughter  a  part 
of  their  population  ;*  but  those  who  remained  would 
avoid  subjugation  by  dispersion,  or  retirement  to  the 
seat  of  some  new  empire. 

Thus  at  considerable  length,  and  I  fear  little  to 
your  satisfaction,  have  I  attempted  to  communicate 
those  ideas  of  the  American  people,  which  have 
been  formed  from  long  acquaintance  and  deliberate 
examination.  You  may  think  my  retrospect  has  too 
much  the  appearance  of  apology  or  panegyric.  Into 
what  errors  I  may  have  been  betrayed  by  a  partiality, 
which  I  am  proud  to  acknowledge,  I  cannot  deter 
mine  ;  though  a  strict  regard  to  the  unexaggerated 
truth  has  guided  my  pen.  Probably  they  are  not  the 
fewer  from  a  feeling,  which  all  along  accompanied 
me,  that  I  was  repelling  prejudices,  the  demolition  of 
which  was  to  be  the  first  step  toward  my  object.  Ar 
affectation  of  contempt  for  America,  is  one  of  the 
only  prejudices  in  which  all  the  nations  of  Europe 
seem  to  concur. .  The  soil,  climate,  productions,  and 
creatures  of  this  enviable  country  have  been  stigma 
tized  as  altogether  inferior  to  those  of  Europe.  And 
the  gravest  philosophers  of  the  old  world  have  led  the 
way  in  these  ignorant,  absurd  prejudices,  against  the 
new.  The  soil  has  been  represented  as  parsimonious 
and  abortive ;  the  climate  as  froward  and  pernicious ; 
the  creatures  as  stunted,  stupid,  and  debased  below 
their  species ;  the  manners,  principles,  and  govern- 
ment,  as  suited  to  this  universal  depravity.  These 
1 


165 

absurdities  appeared  engraved  with  the  stamp  of 
knowledge  and  authority  ;  their  circulation  was  ge 
neral  and  accredited  ;  and  it  is  amazing  how  current 
they  continue  to  this  day,  notwithstanding  the  proofs 
that  have  successively  adduced  themselves  of  their 
falsification  and  baseness.  But  it  is  time  such  opinions 
were  called  in,  and  a  new  seignorage  issued,  less  al 
loyed  with  prejudice ;  that  Europe  may  be  unde* 
ceived  respecting  a  people,  in  many  respects  the  first, 
and  in  none  the  lowest  on  the  scale  of  nations. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


fcEC'DLD  FEE   b'6o-8AJfe*, 


*       JffiC,CK.    /JPR17T5 

.  i^^i'T  V"    .1  r  i  •— H  — 


LD  21A-45w-0,'67 
(H5067slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


II    0       ~ 


cT 


RETURN     CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

TO—  ^      202  Main  Library 

LOAN  PERIOD  1 
HOME  USE 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

Renewals  and  Recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior  to  the  due  date. 

Books  may  be  Renewed  by  calling     642-3405. 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


.11  IN  251988 

AUTO  DISC.  JON  n 

(MR  OB  1990 

mm  FEB  1  6  199(1 

MAY  2  9  1990 

FORM  NO.  DD6, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELE 
BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


